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Historical adventures for young readers

Jane Peck

The Forty-Acre Swindle Dave and Neta Jackson. Trailblazer Books. Bethany House Publishers, 2000.

Trailblazer books are called “thrilling adventure stories introducing young readers to Christian heroes of the past” and are written for children ages 8-12 years.

The Turners, though not real persons historically, represent the times and experiences of many African-Americans in the southern United States at the turn of the 19th century. George Turner was among the fortunate five per cent of released slaves in 1865 to receive a 40-acre parcel of land from General Sherman at the end of the Civil War. However, keeping the land proves to be a continuing challenge. Thirty-three years later, George’s son, Cecil, and his family find themselves going into ever-increasing debt trying desperately to make a living from the land long since exhausted from growing cotton.

Just when things seem hopeless a stranger comes to town. George Washington Carver, a real-life Christian agriculturalist and himself a former slave, brings not only new farming techniques to the people of Acorn, but more importantly, hope and the desire to “hang on”.

The reader experiences what life was like for many African-Americans 100 years ago through the eyes of Jesse Turner. Jesse unearths the clues to a mystery that could cost his family everything.

The exposure this book gives to the historical experiences of many freed slaves and the ugliness of racial prejudice alone make this a worthwhile book for children to read; the suspense of solving the mystery will keep kids reading to the finish.

Jane Peck is children’s ministries pastor at Westwood MB Church in Prince George, B.C.

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Last modified May 17, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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