Today I read a gripping book, The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft, written by Cathy Moore and illustrated by Mary O’Keefe Young.

This is an early reader, a Carolrhoda “On My Own” book, that doesn’t have a lot of space for going into how awful slavery was or why owners let their slaves have passes to see their families and why they were allowed to work for neighbors and earn money. So it raises a lot of questions, which is a good thing. I thought there was on glitch caused, no doubt, by a lack of space. On one page there is a transition missing, I think. We move from a train trip to a boat trip with a little bump instead of smoothly, but none of that matters because the story is so gripping. From the first page I was rooting for Cathy. And then for her husband William, as soon as I met him.

The idea that a family could be celebrating Christmas and not realize it is wrong to own people as one owns a dog, is impossible for me to get my mind around. So I was desperately wanting Cathy and William to escape and I was so afraid that they would be caught and beaten.

One of the most intriguing things about the book, is that when people thought Cathy was a white man, they treated her with respect and when they thought she was a black woman they treated her like a dog. And yet she was the same person.

My choice for nonfiction Monday this week is Alexander Graham Bell, written by Victoria Sherrow and illustrated by Elaine Verstraete.This is an On My Own Biography published by Carolrhoda Books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found the story of Aleck’s early life interesting, and enjoyed the way he tried to make his dog talk. Just the thing that a boy would do. I appreciated, too, that the author pointed out that Aleck was not good in math and Latin while he excelled at science. A child doesn’t have to be a jack of all trades and an expert of none. It is good to nurture strengths and not worry too much about weaknesses. Children who are not good at geography can still do great things in other areas.

I loved the illustrations in this book, too. They are lively and warm and the facial expressions made me want to know the people. Aleck’s family seemed like a loving, close-knit family, so it makes sense that Aleck grew up loving art and music and science but devoting much of his life to helping deaf people.

This is a great book for an early reader (first or second grade) to enjoy. It sketches out Aleck’s story in broad, but interesting, strokes, and makes me want to get more books about him so I can learn more.

For more reviews of nonfiction books visit Great Books for Kids to see this weeks roundup.