Jump Ship to Freedom

What do you get when you put a historian/professor together with his brother the writer? You get a slew of great historical fiction, including Jump Ship to Freedom.

James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier have been writing books together for my entire life. Probably their best known book is the Newbery Honor Book My Brother Sam is Dead. I can't recommend that one yet because haven't read it, but I would certainly encourage you to read this well-written book.

James and Christopher have a solid method that makes their collaboration successful. Christopher comes up with the ideas for the books, and then he does meticulous research on the time period and its people. When he has put down his ideas of what should be included in the story, he hands it over to James who puts flesh onto the bare bones. Finally, they pass the manuscript back and forth until they are happy with it, and Christopher has done one final check of the historical data to make sure everything is accurate. It's a winning combination!

Jump Ship to Freedom is a book set in the late 1700's, right at the time the Constitutional Convention is happening in Philadelphia. Daniel Arabus, the main character, and his mother are slaves in Connecticut. Daniel's father fought in the Revolutionary War in place of his master, Captain Ivers, and this service was to earn him his freedom. Captain Ivers didn't grant it, so Jack Arabus took him to court - and won! He intended to buy his wife and son's freedom with the soldiers' notes he earned in the war, but there was no government established that would pay on the notes. Shortly before this story begins, Jack Arabus is lost at sea.

The soldiers' notes are confiscated by the Ivers's, but Daniel steals them back. Captain Ivers tells Daniel to get ready to sail - something he's never done - but the captain's real purpose is to sell Daniel in the West Indies. En route, they encounter a terrible storm that debilitates the ship and washes away some of the crew, so they have to put in port in New York. This delights Daniel because his plan had been to go to New York and meet with a man who not only knew his father, but who, he hoped, would help him get money for the soldiers' notes.

But how will Daniel get the notes out of the dresser he hid them in? And how will he get away from Captain Ivers? And how does he end up being a messenger for the Quakers who are trying to put anti-slavery language into the Constitution? You'll just have to read Jump Ship to Freedom to find out.