What's the coincidence that I have been really wanting this book in particular and it magically appears at this book fair, right before my eyes! Did I hear someone say "mystical powers of the universe"? Yes? I thought I did.
I first discovered the exquisite and detailed Sharon M. Draper when my parents purchased the book Fire From the Rock, it takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the Little Rock Nine integrated a high school and the main character was one of the nine.
From that point on I fell in love with Sharon M. Draper's detailed and flourishing work! My cousin also told me of a interesting book she had to read for her high school class entitled Romiette and Julio, another work of art by Sharon M. Draper.
Then came her bestseller Out of My Mind which was a definite insight on a disabled child's life and that even though your disabled physically you're not necessarily disabled mentally. This book proved to me one of the reasons I loved Sharon M. Draper's work. As an author, she was willing to take us somewhere most authors were afraid to write about. She wrote about the unavoidable heavy topics authors always found a way of avoiding!
After reading that, I vowed she was one of my favorite authors from there on out. Then I stumbled across this beautiful sight, Copper Sun a book I had been longing for, on sale for an unbelievable price of $2.00.
I thought I was in heaven because I was feeling pure bliss and elation that day. Although I felt like the price was a pure mockery of Sharon Draper's piece of art, I couldn't put the book down, between the true, gritty insight of a slave's life that no other author is willing to dig into, to the descriptiveness of the characters and their feelings the book was highly fascinating!
I believe every girl, no matter what the age is, should read this book. It describes the life of Amari, an African girl from the tribe Ewe whose life was once perfect. She was engaged to the handsomest man in her tribe, she was adored by her family, and she lived in a beautiful village, she never imagined that her life could be taken from her in an instant.
Sharon Draper discusses the invasion of her tribe, to the long and grueling days that she had to lay upon wooden boards on a ship where waste, vomit, and sweat would fall upon her. She would be branded, raped, whipped and more unfathomable cruelties.
Survival seems like all that Amari can hope for. But then an act of unimaginable cruelty provides her with an opportunity to escape, with Polly, a white indentured servant who has to serve 14 years of her life to pay the debt of her parent's deaths.
It also describes how these two cope despite there differences and their illusive hope of fleeing to freedom to escape a world so cruel to a Spanish colony. This book speaks the truth of hardships, danger, but most of all...freedom!
I have written this blog post to introduce you to the wonderful world of a remarkable author named Sharon Draper. Hopefully you will have one of her many books in your hands one day and rave about it and share your thoughts like I have!