Age
9-12
Grade
4-7
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Adenrele Ojo
Jefferson's Sons
Audio CD
(Listening Library (Audio) Sept. 13, 2011)
, Unabridged edition
What does it mean when the man who wrote
the Declaration of Independence is your father
and also your slave master?
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Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston are Thomas Jefferson’s children, but their mother is a slave, so they must keep their father’s identity secret. They get special treatmentâbetter work, better shoes, even violin lessonsâbut they are still slaves. Their father has promised to set them all free when each turns twenty-one. Some of them are light-skinned enough that they will be able to enter white societyâand thereby turn their backs on home forever. Others won’t have that option. So just what did their father mean when he wrote all men are created equal?
    Told in three parts from the points of view of three of Jefferson’s slavesâBeverly, Madison, and a third boy close to the Hemings familyâthese engaging and poignant voices shed light on what life was like as one of Thomas Jefferson’s invisible offspring.
- ISBN
- 0307942317 / 9780307942319
- Pages
- 9
- Weight
- 4.0 oz.
- Dimensions
- 5.3 x 1.2
in.