Barbara Olenyik Morrow

I absolutely loved this book! The book is written in old English “Thou seems a little anxious child, thou art sure?” which provides insight to how people spoke in that time period. The main character, Hallie, was extremely believable. After discovering the slave girls, Hallie became extremely curious and began to meddle around which I think is very characteristic of children her age. The plot was very suspenseful as the police came looking for the slave girls. I was on the edge of my show more seat waiting to find out the girls’ fate. This story pushes the reader to think about slavery from the slaves’ point of view as well as those who broke the law to help assist the slaves. The main idea of this story is to follow your conscience and do what you believe is right. show less

This is by far one of my favorite historical fiction books. It has amazing water color illustrations, dialogue which reflects the appropriate time period and a dramatic plot to draw in readers. Immediately I noticed the dark but somehow still colorful illustrations which mimic what I imagine photographs of the events would look like. Then I noticed how the dialogue for all of the characters not only reflected the time period, but also who the character was. For example, the Quakers say show more “Thou Art Sure?” and the young girl calls her father “Pa.” Finally, my favorite aspect of this story is the moral struggle that the young girl goes through. She feels pulled between what the law is and what feels right to her. She is also confronted by men who scare her and in the face of them she still chooses to protect people she barely knows. This plot was the best way for the author to show readers the main message, that even though something may be the law it is not always right. show less

I'm not a big fan of learning about history but I really liked this book. Written in a child's perspective, this story is about a little girl living in the 1830s and her experience with runaways from the south. She is faced with the challenge of deciding what she thought was right to do; go against the law or help save young runaway girls. Her father believes it's just best not to meddle because if you get caught you have to deal with the law but other families in her town do believe in show more helping the runaways. She gets put in a situation where she has to think quick on her feet what she thinks is best, and she meddled. In the end, she saved two young runaways lives. This story shows young readers what was going on in the 1830s as well how to deal with doing what you believe is right verses others. show less

I enjoyed A Good Night for Freedom by Barbara Olenyik Morrow. I thought the rough earthy illustrations by Leonard Jenkins seemed to emphasize the time period and harshness of the text. I liked the fact that the author loosely based the story on the real family and painted an honest depictions of what life was like at this time. I enjoyed the young girls visit with the two runaway salves where she comes to the realization that her troubles aren't much compared to their own. I think the show more author's theme of doing the right thing even when it is hard is clear through the text. show less