The Horn Book Guide

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Alonso, Harriet Hyman

Martha and the Slave Catchers

247 pp. | Seven Stories/Triangle Square | November, 2017 | Trade ISBN 978-1-60980-800-6 $17.95 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-60980-801-3

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon. Thirteen-year-old Martha Bartlett lives with her Quaker family in an abolitionist community in 1850s Connecticut. When her adopted younger brother, Jake--a light-skinned, possibly autistic orphan of a runaway slave--is kidnapped by slave catchers following the Fugitive Slave Act, Martha embarks on an Underground Railroad–aided rescue mission. Historical tidbits enhance this readable but uneven story of sibling love. Author's note appended.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello