The Drinking Gourd: A Story of the Underground Railroad

Sometime during the first half of the 19th century, a little boy named Tommy meets a family of escaped slaves traveling on the Underground Railroad and helps them to escape a group of US Marshalls. This transitional chapter book, first published in 1970, tells an inspiring story of a troublemaking boy who redeems himself through a selfless act. The African-American slaves in the story, while depicted sympathetically, still suffer from the stereotypes of the time when the book was written. Referred to as “Negroes” in the story, they speak in a uneducated southern patois that today might be considered borderline racist. Tommy’s father, a noble abolitionist, introduces a moral quandary that many elementary school children might show more struggle to understand. “I believe in obeying the law,” he says, “but you and I broke the law tonight...I can’t obey that law... It’s wrong!”

Monjo works up to this ethical question by painting a picture of an era much different from our own. Children sit in church for hours, segregated by sex and separated from their parents. Corporal punishment is accepted as part of daily life. To many kids this will be a completely unfamiliar world where the unnamed father's speech on human dignity is the only point of commonality with modern thought. The line-heavy illustrations are typical of the 70s but not ridiculously dated. Recommended for grades 3-5. show less

A well-done early reader. Unusual in this genre and grade level is a significant ethical dilemma where the father explains to his son why he breaks the law to help escaped slaves.

In F. N. Monjo's The Drinking Gourd, Tommy Fuller's misbehavior in church leads him to discover that his home is a stop on and his father is a conductor of the Underground Railroad. This short chapter book is divided into six chapters, each of which is capable of standing by itself thematically. Several chapters serve almost exclusively as a means of imparting historical information about the Underground Railroad to the reader, with the characters merely providing exposition. However, the first and fourth chapters provide surprisingly engaging story-telling. Tommy's fast-thinking and impish nature first land him in hot water and then help him sidetrack a search party, showing that talents can be both harmful and helpful. With more show more historical background given in the author's note, this book is an excellent educational resource with enough human interest to keep children engaged. It would be a good addition to grade school lbiraries, middle school libraries with a population of readers with low reading levels. It would not hurt a public library's collection either. show less

The stars of the Big Dipper have led a runaway slave family to Deacon Fuller's house, a stop on the Underground Railroad. Will Tommy Fuller be able to hide the runaways from a search party—or will the secret passengers be discovered and their hope for freedom destroyed? (With preschoolers, I paraphrased the text and used the pictures to introduce the history and talk about how God's creation helped the people find their way to freedom and safety.)

This story falls under the genres of historical fiction and easy to read books. According to Scholastic, the readability level of this book was 1st to 3rd grade.The book was a beginning reader, chapter book with a controlled vocabulary that dealt with the subject of the Underground Railroad. In the story, a young boy discovers that his father is hiding fugitive slaves in their barn as part of the Underground Railroad. The boy learns more about the secret networks of people that make up the Underground Railroad as slaves escape their owners and travel to Canada for freedom. They follow the Big Dipper, or the Drinking Gourd, because the North Star will lead them to freedom. The boy and his father help Big Jeff, Vinnie, Little Jeff, and show more Pearl move further North on their journey to freedom while evading federal marshalls. I would definitely use this story in my classroom to help students understand more about the Civil War, Underground Railroad, and the risks that people took to help enslaved people reach freedom. After reading the story, I would have students hypothesize why Thomas and his father would help Big Jeff and his family, since it was illegal. show less

The Drinking Gourd

Summary:
While sitting in church Tommy used an apple core and some fishing line to catch a goose, Tommy disrupted the church congregation when he caught the goose. Tommy's father sent him home, where Tommy discovered four runaway slaves in the barn. The slaves were Jeff,Vinnie, Little Jeff, and Pearl, when Tommy's father got home he allowed Tommy to come with him to transport the slaves by following the Big Dipper, but the slaves called it the Drinking Gourd. The slaves used the Drinking Gourd to follow the North Star to get to Canada. They took a wagon full of hay, Jeff and his family hid in the hay during the trip. After the slaves were taken to a boat at a river Tommy was sent home with the wagon where he waited for show more his father to return home later that night.

Reaction:
I thought this was a good story about the underground railroad. I thought it showed how the underground railroad worked and escaping slavery very well. Tommy's father is a character that wants to help the slaves and wants slavery to be illegal. The setting was the countryside of South Carolina. I can relate to this by the want to help people, like Tommy's' father helping Jeff and his family.

Extension Ideas:
1. The story could be an introduction on a unit on the underground
railroad.
2.The story can teach about slavery.
3.The story can show what slaves had to do to escape. show less

GENRE Historical Fiction CB

Publication Date 1970

Author(s): F Monjo

Title: The Drinking Gourd

Publisher: Harper & Row

Tommy is punished after mischief he created during a church service by being sent home. Upon his arrival he meets run away slaves that his father is helping get to Canada by way of the Underground Train. Tommy learns about compassion and the importance of standing up for what is right even if it seems like the wrong thing to do.