The Journey of Little Charlie

The Journey of Little Charlie
Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic, 2018 234 pages
Grades 5-8
Historical Fiction

Little Charlie does not have an easy life as the son of a share cropper in 1858 rural South Carolina. Having never been to school, he doesn't know how to read and write and being big for his age, he puts in a full day's work on his family's farm. After his father suffers a terrible accident and dies, life even gets worse. How can Ma and he manage the family farm with just the two of them? And now the over-seer from a neighboring plantation is claiming that Pa owes him $50. To pay back the debt Charlie agrees to accompany the infamously cruel Cap'n Buck to Detroit to retrieve stolen property. Once in the big northern city, Charlie is surprised to learn that the stolen property is actually human. Escaped slaves from Cap'n Buck's plantation have been tracked down and he intends to return them to where he feels is their rightful place. With Charlie's help the man and his wife are captured, but then it is discovered that they have a son Charlie's age attending a boarding school over the border in Canada. The two slave catchers cross the border to collect a bigger cash prize; only the adventure does not go as smoothly as expected. 

Based on actual events, Newbery winning author, Curtis, delivers another well researched and tightly written historical fiction for young people. Told in the first person, Little Charlie's poor southern colloquially written voice takes time to get used to, yet once the reader gets into it, the narration flows. We see all of the events from young Charlie's eyes as he starts his journey as a naive farm boy and slowly becomes exposed to worldly matters and cruelties. Slavery is a practice that he has never questioned, yet after meeting northern folks and the young boy he is meant to kidnap, he sees the situation from a different perspective and begins to question all that he thinks he knows. By the book's end Charlie has a major ethical decision to make and readers will hold their breath hoping he chooses the right path. Curtis introduces some heavy topics and does not sugar-coat the horrors of slavery, yet somehow manages to infuse his characteristic humor within the pages, especially through Charlie's interpretation of events. Teachers will find it useful in the classroom and kids that give it a try will find that it is worth the effort. Already a National Book Award finalist, this selection will certainly land on the Newbery committee's radar.