Grade 6 Book Reviews #1

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

At first glance, Chains seemed like a regular book, probably just
about a slave running away and then somehow finding her family... But
as I finished the first page I realized that this book was in fact,
different. Chains tells the story of Isabel Gardener (as she names
herself in the last few chapters) and her sister, Ruth's challenging,
and often chaotic or confusing life. When the woman that had owned
them passes away, her son takes them; he finds he has no need for them
and sells them. They end up with a horrid owner and his wife.

As Isabelle takes you through her life with Becky, the cook, Curzon,
the slave boy that she meets, and many others, you learn how hard life
for Isabelle really is. The Revolution is only just beginning, "Madam"
as her owner's wife makes Isabelle call her, is an obnoxious, selfish,
rude, racist devil, and we learn that Ruth suffers from "fits" as
Isabelle calls them. It is certainly a hard life, but it gets harder
when "Madam" sells Ruth. Isabelle is furious, she must find Ruth.
Isabelle continues to try and find Ruth, save Curzon, and struggle
through life as a slave...

Personally, I thought that Chains was quite interesting, sometimes it
was quite boring and hard to get through, all in all, it was okay. But
I'm not that sure if it was Laurie Halse Anderson's story to tell.
Chains addressed many problems, including: Slavery/Racism, Child
Labor, and a few more. There's not much more for me to say except: I
mostly liked it.

Written by Avery 

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Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

“Isabel, remember your place.”

This is significant because it gives you a feel of the time period. You already know it’s set in the time of the Revolutionary War, but it focuses on a different part of that era; slaves. Normally, when people think about slaves, they think about the Civil War, but slaves date back a lot longer than that. They dates all the way back to the year 1619. This quote gives you a feel about how slaves were being treated. The answer is not very well, especially in Isabel’s case. When Pastor Weeks says this, all I thought of was, now, in this time period, What if that happened?

“Those Yellow-Bellied cowards have sailed for Canada!”

I just adore the language Laurie Halse Anderson uses. It fits the age perfectly. “Yellow-Bellied cowards”, it’s so much fun to say and I imagine it’s something one of the Loyalists (or Tories) would have said. There are some words in the book such as “missus” or “camp”. These may seem like normal words, but are they? Camp’s meaning has more or less changed. “Missus” has been abbreviated to “Mrs.”. An even more significant change is “privy” has become “bathroom” or “restroom”. So much has changed in the last 241 years!

“Kill General Washington?”

This, is intense. Killing George Washington? This is when Isabel realizes she needs to help the Rebels, for the first time. The British, were ruthless. The British were the Kings and they had everything. Another slave girl would do them no good. They would go to extreme measures to win the war. They would go to the ends of the earth and back. When she understood that, is when she made her decision. Help them.

     
Written by: Kathleen

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Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
            
            Chains is about Ruth and her sister. The struggles they had and the sad moments that they shared. They were slaves during 1776 to 1777 in the South. The first part of 1776 was going great until they changed masters and their mom died. Then their life turned upside down.

            When they changed  masters their living conditions were harder. But it got even challenging  for them. While Ruth was sleeping a special part of her life was taken away from her. Her sister Izzie. She didn't just stand there thinking her sister would come back. She ran away from her master’s home to have freedom and find her sister.

I give this book three stars because it was not as exciting as many other books I have read. This book was half interesting and half boring. I wish it could have been  engaging through out the whole book.   That is why I give this book three stars.  

Written by: Caitlin 

July 14, 2017