The Listeners

By Gloria Whelan

Book Overview

A moving story about resilience and hope in the face of terrible circumstances.

Ella May lives on a plantation but she doesn't live in the great house. She is a slave. It's dark in the morning when Ella May heads to the fields to pick cotton. And it's sunset when she comes home. But her day isn't done, not yet. Ella May still has important work to do. She's got to listen. Each night Ella May and her friends secretly listen outside the windows of their master's house. The children listen in the hopes of gleaning information about their fates and those of their loved ones.

Who will be sold? Who will stay? The lives of slaves depended on the inclinations of their owners. They had no control over their daily lives or futures. But they could dream. And when the promise of freedom appears on the horizon, the children are the first to hear it.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585364193
• ISBN13: 9781585364190
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.2" x 11.1"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4