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    Ann Fights for Freedom: An Underground Railroad Survival Story
    Ann Fights for Freedom: An Underground Railroad Survival Story
    Ann Fights for Freedom: An Underground Railroad Survival Story
    Ebook77 pages50 minutes

    Ann Fights for Freedom: An Underground Railroad Survival Story

    By Nikki Shannon Smith and Alessia Trunfio

    5/5

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    About this ebook

    Twelve-year-old Ann understands there is only one thing to be grateful for as a slave: having her family together. But when the master falls into debt, he plans to sell both Ann and her younger brother to two different owners. Ann is convinced her family must run away on the Underground Railroad. Will Ann's family survive the dangerous trip to their freedom in the North ? This Girls Survive story is supported by a glossary, discussion questions, and nonfiction material on the Underground Railroad, making it a valuable resource for young readers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateFeb 1, 2019
    ISBN9781496581969
    Author

    Nikki Shannon Smith

    Nikki Shannon Smith is from Oakland, California, but she now lives in the Central Valley with her husband and two children. She has worked in Elementary Education for over twenty-five years, and writes everything from picture books to young adult novels. When she’s not busy with family, work, or writing, she loves to visit the coast. The first thing she packs in her suitcase is always a book.

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    Reviews for Ann Fights for Freedom

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    • 5/5
      A great book and it really shows how there was REALLY slavery to people. Such a sad horrible times, but it is amazing how people survived through such awful conditions.
    • 5/5
      A solid, well told story for early chapter book readers. Ann's a strong character, with a variety of complex emotions throughout the book, and I think the author does an excellent job telling the story from her point of view. Lets kids her age understand the time period (pre-Civil War) and the subject matter (slavery, the Underground Railroad) without getting bogged down in a larger overview. The images are a bit cartoony, but that I think that adds to the kid-appeal. Great read.

    Book preview

    Ann Fights for Freedom - Nikki Shannon Smith

    Cover

    CHAPTER ONE

    Eastern Maryland

    Wednesday, November 15, 1854

    Sundown

    Ann shivered. The cold was everywhere. The dirt floor of her family’s one-room cabin was almost as cold as the November air. Earlier the sun and hard work in the field had kept her warm, but now Ann had to move closer to the cook fire. It didn’t help. She would have to wait for the fire’s warmth to fill the cabin.

    Ann, don’t get too close, now, said Mama.

    Ann pulled her feet back just enough to put Mama at ease.

    Mama was a strong woman who always said her children were the most important thing in the world. She said no matter what Master Adam thought, they were her children, not his. Just because they were slaves didn’t mean he owned their hearts or their souls.

    Daddy always said Mama had a fire burning inside and that it was where she got her strength. But the fire inside Mama was burning out. It had started two months ago when Granny died. Mama barely ever smiled now, and she never hummed while she cooked anymore. Losing her mama had broken her heart.

    Ann missed the old Mama even more than she missed Granny. If she had one wish, she’d bring Granny back to them. That way Mama would come back too.

    Daddy sat down on the ground next to Ann and let out a groan, the same way he did every night. His back was tired. Their family had spent all day pulling dried cornstalks from the hardened soil in the field.

    Paul sat down where he didn’t fit—right between Ann and Daddy. He was only five, and he couldn’t stand to be more than three feet from somebody. He was scared of everything too. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t let himself be alone.

    Ann, said Mama, hold the baby. Mama handed baby Elizabeth to Ann. As soon as she did, Elizabeth started to cry.

    She doesn’t like me, said Ann.

    Daddy laughed. She doesn’t like anyone but Paul and your Mama.

    Mama sighed and said, She misses Granny.

    Elizabeth had been born during the last apple harvest, in early fall. She was twelve years younger than Ann. Two weeks later, Granny had died from an infection.

    When Daddy came into the cabin the day after Granny died, he had found the baby screaming in one corner and Mama crying in the other. Ann hadn’t known what to do so she’d sat by the fire with Paul and stayed out of the way.

    Daddy had gotten Mama and Elizabeth calmed down and asked Ann to come outside to the garden with him. He had looked at Ann with a serious face.

    Ann, he’d said, do you remember what Granny always called you?

    Ann had nodded. She called me an old soul.

    Granny was convinced you’d been here before, Daddy had told her.

    Granny had always said things that didn’t make sense to Ann. What does that mean, Daddy? Ann had asked.

    Daddy had chuckled and put his hand on her shoulder. It means you’re an old lady in a little girl’s body.

    Ann liked the idea of being like a grown-up, but not the idea of being an old lady. She had tried to figure out why Granny thought that, but Daddy had interrupted her thinking.

    You’re going to have to be grown-up and help your mama, Daddy had said.

    Ann had nodded again and followed Daddy back inside—and she had spent the last month or so trying as hard as she could to keep her promise to Daddy. If Mama needed help, Ann would help her.

    So Ann held the baby, even though it was her least favorite job. It was a job nobody could do right, and Ann liked to do things right.

    Elizabeth squirmed and hollered. Shhh, said Ann. She bounced Elizabeth a little bit, like Mama did, but it didn’t work.

    Finally dinner was ready. Mama gave everyone a strip of pork and a piece of ashcake. Then she took the baby back from Ann and sat down.

    Dinner in their cabin was almost always quiet. By the end of the day, Daddy was too tired, Mama was too sad, and Ann was too hungry to talk. Paul always had something to say, but someone usually shushed him.

    Ann

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