VERDICT A fascinating look at a fictional Black resistance settlement in little-known place.-Lisa Crandall While using archeological evidence of settlements of formerly enslaved people within the Great Dismal Swamp as the basis for the text, the story itself is a speculative look into such a community. Told from many alternating points of view, it is somewhat challenging to keep the characters straight at the outset. Using a hand-drawn map that (unbelievably) survives multiple drenchings, Homer and company undertake the seemingly impossible rescue. His new friends from Freewater pledge to return with him. But what about his mama? Plagued by guilt about his mother's capture, Homer decides to return to the plantation to rescue his mother and Anna.

Slowly, Homer begins to appreciate living and working together to contribute to the thriving community. Lost and disoriented, they are rescued by Suleman, a mysterious and taciturn guide who leads them through the inhospitable swamp to Freewater, a settlement of escaped men, women, and children living in freedom. Homer and Ada run to nearby river and plunge into the raging waters that carry them into the Great Dismal Swamp.

But Homer remembers his promise of freedom to his friend Anna his mother turns back for her but is caught. With their mother leading the way, Homer and his younger sister Ada try to escape their hellish lives of slavery on the Southerland Plantation. Gr 5-8-Sometimes, to be free, you have to make a life in a place where no one can find you.

But when he learns of a threat that could destroy Freewater, he crafts a plan to find his mother and help his new home.ĭeeply inspiring and loosely based on the history of maroon communities in the South, this is a striking tale of survival, adventure, friendship, and courage. In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Debut author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children’s escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson