Journey To Freedom: Frederick Douglas 

by John Passaro

Nonfiction: Biography

Chapter Book

Journey To Freedom, is a valuable biography of the great African American leader, Frederick Douglas.  The book is divided into small chapters in which the reader can easily peruse through the book in order to find factual information.  The chapters include: Growing up in Slavery, Escape from Slavery, An Abolitionist, A Nation at War, and The Fight for Civil Rights.  The end of the book is completed with a wonderful timeline of Frederick Douglas's life, a glossary of terms, and a thorough index.  Each chapter informs its readers with a plethera of information covering his childhood through his hardships of being a slave to gaining his freedom and becoming an abolitionist, the chapters also include his role in the fight for civil rights in which he was oppressed to the extent of having his house burnt down. The book does a really great job of highlighting his failures and his accomplishments.  I find this book to be a great resource for students.  I would use this book in my classroom as a supplement to a social studies book.  The text is an easier read than most textbooks and the pages are filled with great paintings and photographs.  Each picture has a caption with information about the painting or photograph.  I would love to have this book in my classroom library because I believe this book offers a lot of factual information in an appealing way for students.