The Slave Dancer

African-American people, please do not make your child read this racist text cloaked as liberalism.

This is a convincing and terrifying tale of a 13-year-old Creole boy's kidnap, and subsequent ordeal at sea on a small slaver. The boy himself is little more than a slave on board the ship, where his most important function is to play music to assist in forcing the slaves to exercise regularly.
Worse than the physical trials of his overwork, partial starvation and thirst, are the emotional ordeals which the boy goes through. Jessie is emotionally alone on a ship full of self-absorbed men devoid of empathy. When the new-bought slaves are brought on board, he is the only one on the ship human enough to identify with their anguish.
It is a depressingly real view of our venal world. People are sold into slavery by their own greedy kings. Bribery and corruption bring anti-slavery laws to nought. Men turn on their own supposed friends for profit, and money persuades relatively normal men to ignore the humanity of their victims.
This book presents no fully good characters. There are only varied gradations of evil. The only man on the ship who shows some rough concern for Jessie's welfare is an Irishman whose resentment of his own ethnic group's trials has somehow rebounded into a hatred of most other ethnic groups. He hates the French (Jessie is half French) and despises the slaves as less than human. Yet he has more capacity for affection than any of the others.
This book is not merely entertainment. It should be given only to intelligent and mature kids, and should be discussed with them and explained by an intelligent and sensitive adult. It will horrify readers of any color and ethnicity, for it is not merely concerned with the inhumanity of the American slave trade, but with the larger theme of man's inhumanity to man.

I hated this book and you must agree. What was so apealing about it. Oh it must of been the part when the young black girl was hungg by her ankles, off the ship.I mena, give me a break!!!???!!Good books are out there, but the slave dancer, was NOT one of the many. So take THIS review into consideration, please and DO NOT waste your good, hard earned money on this book, cause its NOT worth it! Thank you for reading my review...

This book was awarded the John Newbery Award in 1974, thisaward is for the most distinguished children's book published theprevious year. I chose the book The Slave Dancer By: Paula Fox. This book wasvery interesting to me. It is about a boy who is leading a normallife, and runs an errand for his mother. While he is gone, some sailors kidnap him. When he discovers where he is, it is too late. They have already taken him into the sea. He lives on a boat, which is used to transport slaves, as a ship boy for months. Jessie, the main character, is a good-hearted boy and has trouble being involved in the slave trade. At one point, he is beaten because of his compassion towards the future African slaves. Eventually most of the slaves die, he actually watches some of them be thrown overboard, both living and dead. In the end, the boat sinks, but Jessie and a little boy that he had bonded with earlier survive. However, this book truly hits home with many thoughts of racism today. The discussion of the slaves in general is very good for a child to hear. It portrays how the slaves were treated and how young innocent white boys were made to help in the torture of the slaves. When Jessie feels compassion towards them and is beaten for it, this explains a lot. The captain and others try to make Jessie feel hatred towards these African slaves. This is the way that many people were brought up. With these negative attitudes people have, many of them are raising their
children the same way. I think that Paula Fox did a wonderful job of portraying this idea. I looked at this book as a "book people" book. The book is telling the truth in every way possible. It uses great detail in describing some of the events. It even gets gory in some parts. Not many children's books do this, and get by with it. It actually has a Grimm brothers sort of approach. Fox tells things the way they were; she does not "soften" them up for the children. The other side, however, would say the book was not fit for children due to the gore of it and even some language. In an article written by Sarah Hinlicky entitled "Don't Write About Race", she discusses the topic of race in writing, including children's literature. Hinlicky gives many good reasons why people don't write about racial issues. Hinlicky says that one of the main reasons is fear. She says that "the wise writer observes the rules and politely declines to write about race." This keeps them from being tortured and ridiculed for writing about racial issues. In the end of the article she proposes a very powerful statement: Black America and white America are different cultures, these cultures still distrust one another. Moving across color lines also means moving across culture lines...Maybe there's an answer I've found, but I think I'd better quit now, since I'm not supposed to be writing about race in the first place. This statement is important in saying how people think they aren't supposed to discuss the topic. I think it is almost challenging for people to look at it in Hinlicky's light. I think I take a book people stand. Children need to know the truth in the history of acts such as this. They cannot keep the truth from the children, or that will lead to children who have racial tension. Many children today are misinformed of this part of history. Both black children and white children are confused with their facts in this matter. (.....)I loved this book because it kept me interestered from beginning to end with all the plots and detials in it. This was truly a great book! END

I think that the book The Slave Dancer is a great book. Paula Fox takes you into the life of a young boy who is kidnapped and put on a ship headed for Africa to trade slaves. Fox does a great job with the use of imagery and detail in this book.

One day Jessie's mother sends him to get some candles, and on the way home he is bound and taken by two men. Jessie is put on a ship, forced to live there, and play his fife for the slaves. Throughout the book Jessie starts to feel compassion for the slaves, because he witnesses their poor treatment Jessie becomes friends with one of the slave boys he meets on the ship. On his journey Jessie learns a lot about himself and the slaves from Africa.

This Newbery Medal book gives you a glimpse of life during the times of slave trade. This book is a great choice for young readers.

I read this book several years ago and it truly deals with a thought provoking subject. The writing is excellent as well as the subject matter. It opened my eyes to a side of slave trading that I had never thought about. It is a haunting work that disturbs me still.

First of all, from reading some of the other reviews, I have to say PEOPLE NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY ARE READING! So many people seem to have missed what a gem this book is. Yes, the plot could have been a little more developed, and at times the author seemed unsure if certain characters were to be thought of as friend or foe, but it is possible that was her point. This is not a book to be read lightly if you want to fully appreciate all it has to offer.
For someone who reads well above her level, it is rare that I find a book that challenges me but The Slave Dancer did, it made me pay attention and I found it to be a nice challenge.

P.S., If you people don't like historical fiction books, as you have said in your reviews, why do you even bother to read this?!

I think this book is good but I would not reccomend it because I think instead of putting pirates they could of been more creative. I aslo think they could of changed the time, that was way off. Other than that, the book was good.

I had to read this book last summer for school, and I loved it. It was so detailed and so sad. It told me a lot of things I didn't know about slaves, and their way over to America.

This book is a great one and I recommend you buy it. It is filled with great plots from begining to end. Young Jessie is captured and sent abord a slave ship to dance the slaves to keep them healthy. When the ship crashes, he and a black boy named Rass are the only ones who make it asore. There they find an old man who helps them both. In the end Jessie makes it home. To find his mother and sister there just the way he left them 5 months ago. (his father died a long time ago) It was a very happy ending! I loved this book because it kept me interestered from beginning to end with all the plots and detials in it. This was truly a great book!