Chains

Anderson, L.H. (2008). Chains. New York: Athenum.

Chains is a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction and rightfully so.  Narrated from the perspective of Isabel, named Sal by her master, the story tells of how she is passed from hand to hand due to her master's death and the sale of her body.  Even though she should have been set free, the will was ignored in a man's drive for riches.  Isabel and her young sister, Ruth, are sold to a Loyalist family, the Locktons and mistreated by "Madam." Madam maintains rigorous demands on her child slaves and ignores many of the necessities of being human in the place of housework and cooking.  When Ruth is sold, Isabel is inconsolable and the events result in her branding and a metaphorical infestation of bees.  Isabel tells her story through love and her "remembery" in a way that every reader can connect and sincerely empathize with her story.  Readers will not be able to put the book down as Isabel seeks her River Jordan.  (Grade 5 and up).