I do NOT recommend this book!

Blech. Racist. This would make a wonderful example to highlight portions of text that are trying to be supportive but are just downright racist. Teaching students to identify this is the only reason I could ever see using this text with students today.

I completely forgot about this book until I stumbled across it looking for "Summer of the Monkeys" read-alikes (and also looking for forgotten children's books). I remember being fascinated by this in about third grade.

Amazingly readable. There are some very strange things about this book, though, especially the views on slavery, etc.

I really liked this book. I read it with my kids, for school, and while I knew in general what it was about, I didn't really know what to expect. I think what I liked best was that Amos was true to his heart, and as he came to faith true to his faith, following God as best as he was able. He didn't have things all planned out, didn't have a lot of control over much of his life, but he chose to let his faith guide his decisions wherever he could. I think in particular at the end, where Amos knew there was something yet left to do, but not yet knowing what it was, his faith & patience to wait for God to reveal that to him spoke to me. Sometimes we don't know exactly what we're faithfully waiting to do, but we continue to walk & stand ready ...

I was afraid this was going to be a disaster to modern sensibility, but it’s not! Yes, most of the white people are kind, “good,” helpful to Amos in a way that is not the experience of most enslaved/freed people in the 18th century and there is a definite feeling that Black people need to be civilized and educated by White people, but overall Amos and the book highly value freedom, both from slavery and as interior mastery. If this weren’t the story of a real, remarkable man (although I believe most of the details are imagined), it might not be worth the difficulties, but they are not so egregious that discussion can’t overcome them. I do recommend reading it before a child does so you’re prepared - why do all these supposedly anti-slavery White people fail to free him? Does an owner being kind to him mean it would be better to be property? Why is African culture something he needs to be taught to reject? This book is 70 years old and reflects it, but it is still a touching story of a man who overcomes all obstacles to build a life.

Interesting story, but the detailed descriptions were so cumbersome that I was bored out of my mind reading this aloud.

Amos Fortune, Free Man (1951)- This was one that has not stood the test of time. While it is loosely based on a true story, a white person writing about an enslaved person who is then freed at age 60 was a big no. She writes his character as just being so grateful for all the nice white people who OWNED him and it just turned my stomach. I'm sure this man had an incredible life but this was not who should have written about it.