"Stars hold their breath / and so do the three, / four miles from the old oak tree." Thus begins the voyage of three brave slaves during the Civil War who secretly cross over the Union border, confident of a better life ahead. "Better forward than back," they say, four words that become an anthem on the road to freedom. The closer they are to being "in the shade of the freedom tree," the more human they feel. When they land on Union soil, they are protected as war contraband, build their own community, and inspire others to follow in their footsteps. VanHecke's poetic text uses well-placed repetition of stanzas to emphasize the contrasts between enslavement and emancipation. Ladd's inky illustrations amplify the action and emotion in the words, leading up to a final, moving image of an oak tree arching over the community as Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation is announced. An author's note and bibliography enhance the classroom connections of this powerful story of hope, equality, and peace.

In 1861, when a Union general refused to return three escaped slaves to their owners, he set off a little-known episode in American history in which more than nine hundred slaves ended up in Hampton, Virginia, working for the Union army. The brief, spare verse is accompanied by realistic acrylic paintings depicting everyday life as the growing community builds a new town. Bib.

Gr 2-5 A vivid free-verse account of a little-known event during the Civil War. On a night in 1861, three slaves escape from a Confederate Army camp and slip across the water to a Union-held fort. Rather than send them back to their owners, the general declares them "contraband of war" and allows them to stay. This decision brings a flood of other escaped slaves hoping for something better. A makeshift town is created, and gradually the "contrabands" now have a space of their own. The story concludes with the announcement of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the rejoicing of slaves beneath the Freedom Tree. The concise verse brings a piece of history to life and begs to be read aloud, evoking the names and desperation of those long-ago escapees, while Ladd's full spreads complement the text and give faces to the figures. This simple but unforgettable title would be useful for fleshing out Civil War studies and prompting further discussion of slavery and emancipation. Additional background information is included in the author's note, and the bibliography provides interested readers with more resources and documents. This powerful picture book would likely appeal to readers of Charles R. Smith Jr.'s Brick by Brick (HarperCollins, 2012). Stephanie Whelan, New York Public Library