Ajeemah and His Son

By James Berry

Book Overview

In 1807, at the height of the slave trade, Ajeemah and his son, Atu, are snatched by slave traders from their home in Africa while en route to deliver a dowry to Atu's bride-to-be. Ajeemah and Atu are then taken to Jamaica and sold to neighboring plantations'never to see one another again. Readers will come away with a new sense of respect for those who maintained their dignity and humanity under the cruelest of circumstances.'SLJ. Each moment here of the Jamaican-born poet's terse, melodious narrative is laden with emotion. . . . Brilliant, complex, powerfully written.--K.

Notable Children's Book of 1993 (ALA)
1993 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1993 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
1992 Books for Youth Editors' Choices (BL)
Notable 1992 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
Bulletin Blue Ribbons 1992 (C)

1993 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Children's Books of 1992 (Library of Congress)
1993 Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction Award

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064405230
• ISBN13: 9780064405232
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Excellent Story - Big Emotional Impact on Teens

Read it along with my son for a book report. Excellent prose style that gives you an idea of how they spoke/thought back then. Great representation of the horrors of slavery. Highly recommended for young readers.

adapting to life as a slave in Jamaica can be hard

This is a good story about different reactions to the slave trade by a father and son stolen from their home in Africa and brought to Jamaica. The way they respond to their new environments (on 2 different plantations 20 miles apart) are so different. It is interesting to learn what is important to each, and see how they adapt. And it is interesting to make some comparisons between the slave system in Jamaica vs American by reading this. The only problem I had with this book is the lack of chapters. It is just one long story with the occasional break of a blank line between paragraphs. Otherwise this is an excellent relatively short book that presents the fictional lifes of two slaves.

"We will Overcome Someday"

Imagine you were born a free individual, to one day have your freedom taken away. As you prepared for your wedding, both you and your father decided to take a gift to the family whose son or daughter you were to marry. On your way there, both you and your father are captured, seized, and sold into slavery to different slave owners. Your identity, as well as your family, culture and customs are apprehended. You are assigned a new name and family. You are told what to do and when to do it. Confusion, sadness, and rage overcome you to the point that you contemplate rebellion. Ajeemah and his son Atu faced these harsh conditions on the plantations of Jamaica, where they were shipped to after they were captured from Africa and sold. Although Atu did not get the opportunity to experience freedom after being enslaved, Ajeemah persevered and celebrated freedom when he and the rest of the slaves were emancipated. Through the harsh conditions both Ajeemah and Atu endured, they managed to maintain their dignity and humanity under the cruelest of circumstances. This is an excellent book in which the history of the slave trade is depicted in a very descriptive manner. For teachers, this book can serve as a means for a reading lesson and integrated into a social studies lesson on the slave trade. I highly recommend that children of all ages read this book about inner strength, courage, perserverance, family, and culture.

Unfortunately, an accurate picture

It's difficult, I think, for most modern white people to spend much time considering slavery without feeling some kind of unnamed, innate guilt, or for modern people of African descent to do so without some anger and resentment. Ajeemah and His Son presents an unflinching look at Caribbean slavery that makes any reader want to weep at the injustice perpetrated in the name of colonial profiteering. The writing is quite skillful (the author has won those awards for a reason, after all), and weaves the two stories together gracefully. Between Ajeemah and his son Atu, one of them will assimilate and become part of the new class of African descendants populating the New World, while one will actively resist assimilation until his dying day. There is a nice connection made near the end indicating how future generations will view their African heritage. Aimed at children, this book might be a hard one for parents to share with their kids...there is some brutal stuff here. But then, isn't it better to learn about the mistakes of history so they won't be repeated?

Well-written

This book was captivating. I was so drawn into the characters that I couldn't help but hope that someday Atu would see Sisi again and that he and his father would make it back to Africa. An excellent book about a topic I have read very little on. It has a unique ending.