Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Elijah of Buxton is a historical fiction coming of age story from the perspective of an 11-year-old black boy growing up in a settlement of freed slaves in Buxton, Canada. Elijah recounts various life stories that weave together his growth from a “fra-gile”, naive child to a young person who understands by experience the complexities of the wisdom and warnings the grownups have been guiding him to understand.

Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Read Aloud Age: 12+

This book was a fantastic read. It has the charm of frontier literature reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie, a good dose of mystery and intrigue, and a different yet poignant perspective on American slavery. Whereas most novels that explore slavery in America are from the perspective of slaves or freed slaves, this is from the perspective of a boy born free who is trying to understand the generation that came before him and the slavery still happening. At the same time, he is learning valuable life lessons like how to discern what makes a person trustworthy, judging people by their actions and not just their speech, valuing freedom, following the wise advice of his elders, and interpreting the nuances of life’s complexities. The author does an amazing job stringing these themes throughout the novel and tying them off to create a wonderful tapestry in the end.

Like most books revolving around slavery there are very heavy themes. This book greatly lends itself towards discussion and would be a huge asset for young people learning about the 1860’s, but it has moments of violence, intense situations, and descriptions of brutality. Parents should be very discerning on whether or not their children are mature enough to grasp the complexities and be exposed to the violence.

The novel is also written with a bit of a rural southern dialect which might be tricky for young readers. It would make for a great read aloud. I definitely look forward to sharing with my own children when they are mature enough.

Language:
As mentioned, the author uses a bit of a southern dialect and slang.
“Lord have mercy”, “Sweet Baby Jesus”, & “Lord” are used a little.
“Doggone-it-all” and “doggone” are used quite a few times.
“Shoot” is used once.
“Blang it all”, “blanged”, “I’ll be blanged”, and “blangedest” are used a few times as slang curse words. There is some name calling such as jack legged, fool, snitch, crying little brat, cabbage heads, and yellow-belly dog of a blamed thief.
A character spells d-a-m with the intent of swearing with it.
A carnival of oddities calls some of their performers freaks of nature.
One time Elijah gets cut off before he can finish the N-word. Punishment is quick and the dialogue about never using that word was very well done.
There is a conversation about the supposed side effects of being bitten by a fictitious snake that include organs exploding.
They are superstitious so their is talk of the Devil, haints (ghosts), and conjuring is pervasive.

SPOILERS for specific instances of superstition: Preacher calls Elijah’s skilled rock throwing “conjuring” and “the work of the Devil” and accuses Elijah of being in Satan’s clutches, but then decides it’s a “gift from the Lord”. One character describes the furious actions of the teacher to be “like a demon had ahold of him” and later that the teacher seemed to be “took over by Satan” while displaying anger at a mischievous student. There is also a hypnotist show and they use the words “conjuring” and “mesmerized” a lot, the word “spell” a little, and the Devil is mentioned. The phrase “like the Devil was chasing” was also used.

Questionable Behaviors:
Elijah whines and back talks to his mom once.
Character’s enjoy gossip, even though they admit they’re not supposed to.
Exaggerating stories (such as a baby spitting up for half an hour straight) is promoted as commonplace and harmless, but Elijah coming to learn discernment about embellishment and facts is an important part of the story.
Elijah tells half-truths to his parents a few times and outright lies to a friend’s mom and his parents. Pa lies about enjoying Ma’s pie and tries to avoid eating it. Elijah also plays along with another character’s lies to save someone. There are a few times that lies told for a greater good are promoted as a good thing in the end.
Elijah sometimes eavesdrops, but he knows he shouldn’t.
A few characters are angry enough to display it physically such as throwing things, hitting, and threatening others.
A child plays a prank on an adult and an adult plays a prank on a child. (Spoilers below)
Elijah often sneaks out at night against his parents wishes.
A boy and a woman smoke cigars
Slavery is spoken of a great deal.
Some characters express a desire to gamble and there is a scene of people gambling.
Drinking alcohol is mentioned.
There is one character whose actions are especially egregious. (spoilers below)

SPOILERS
There is a carnival of oddities full of acts that lie to the audience and pray upon the gullible while extorting the performers. Hypnotists, fortune tellers, and unusual looking people are mentioned. Worst of all, a little boy is humiliated by having to undress completely while pretending to be hypnotized. All of this is portrayed as bad behavior.
Elijah’s mom shows him a snake which terrifies Elijah, so he seeks vengeance and pulls a prank on his mom, but then his mom pulls a prank on him back.
The character who proclaims himself a “preacher”, but doesn’t even have a church or a congregation, is slowly revealed to be a liar, swindler, cheat, spiritual abuser, blackmailer, gambler, drinker, thief, physically violent, and a murderer. The author does a very good job using this character to demonstrate how the actions of a person can reveal the true character of a person more than what that person says. Right from the beginning this character feels slimy.
Elijah tries to hatch a plan that involves murdering people to save slaves.

Sexual Content:
The boys read the phrase, “familiarity breeds contempt” and mistakenly think their teacher is going to talk about a family breeding contest.

Other Things to Know:
A story about a baby spitting up on someone is referenced multiple times but it does tie into the story as a whole.
Tar and feathering is mentioned a few times.
A scared little five-year-old urinates his trousers by accident.
The kids play a game called abolitionists and slavers which is akin to modern kids cops and robbers games.
There are a few instances of nudity such as a boy being humiliated by having to strip down as part of a show, Elijah encounters slaves that aren’t wearing clothes, and one character is seen after he has been stripped, beaten, strung up, and killed.
There are descriptions of injuries such as bleeding, losing a finger, and injured chained up slaves that haven’t been washed for a long time.
Death is present throughout. Some characters express fear of death, stories are recounted of people dying such as a woman’s baby dying of fever and a man being trampled by a horse, SPOILERS: Elijah experiences someone dying next to him, and at the very end there is a graphic description of a character getting stripped, beaten, strung up, hanged, and murdered for the entertainment of the slavers. The body was still hanging as well.
There are intense scenes. SPOILERS: School children are ushered home carefully and quietly because there might be slavers nearby, Elijah thinks he’s being kidnapped, he encounters slaves but thinks they’re ghosts and fears he might be enslaved.
It’s a settlement in the 1860’s so there is violence. SPOILERS: Elijah catches flies to keep alive for fishing. He fishes by hitting fish on the head with rocks. There is a wounded horse. There is talk of someone slitting slavers’ throats. The teacher wrenches a kid’s ear for disrespecting him, an adult slaps Elijah for using the N-word, a woman recounts being slapped by her mom three times, and using a rod/hitting/beating/belting for discipline is alluded to. A character learns of the brutal death of a loved one. A man is beaten and grazed by a bullet. Another character goes hunting for vengeance and seeks to kill a man. Elijah defends himself from a brutal dog attack and ends up injuring the dog. He also faints a little and hits his head very hard.
People are religious, but not necessarily true Christians. There is just an assumption that they will see family members again in heaven. Elijah is not fond of church because he thinks it’s boring.

This review is written by Good Book Mom contributor, Lynnette. To learn more about Lynnette, click HERE.

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