I have read a book named Copper Sun by Sharon M Draper. The book is realistic fiction, the life of a slave. A 15 year old girl, Amari, was taken from her village in Africa and bought to America to be sold. Amari was sold to the highest bidder, and given to his 16 year old son as a birthday present. The man that bought her was the head of a rice plantation in the Carolinas. The story is told from two points of view, but in third person.

The main characters are Amari, Polly, Tidbit, and Teenie. Polly is an indentured white girl that works for the Head Master. Amari, Tidbit, and Teenie, unlike Polly, are slaves. Polly and Amari are one day put into a bad situation with the Head Master and his wife. Amari, Polly, and Tidbit have to escape the plantation in order to save their lives. The three traveled for months to get to Fort Mose, Florida in Spanish territory to become free. “Tomorrow, you must put Amari in the rice fields-for life,” the Head Master says as he locks the door of the smoke house. “You must escape to save your lives!” Teenie whispers to the terrified children.

I found this book to be very unforgettable and legendary because of the hardships and terrors so many people went through to stay alive, and to find freedom. I think one of the author’s opinions is that slavery is wrong. I agree with her because one man should not be able to own another, or to treat another with such disrespect. This book affected me in a great way. It explained to me that so many people had died of suffered from being enslaved, and/or uncared for.

I would definitely recommend this book because of how much it can teach people that slavery was, and still is, wrong.

This is a great historical fiction book about a 15 year old girl that was sold into sexual slavery. This book is geared toward high school age students. ( )

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

have been a fan of Sharon M. Draper for some time. She is a master at writing realistic fiction. COPPER SUN is her first historical fiction and it is amazing -- as well as frighteningly authentic.

This book follows the trials and tribulations of Amari, a fifteen-year-old African maiden. After witnessing the slaughter of both the old and young in her African village, including her parents and her young brother, she is chained, by feet, hands, and neck, lined up, and herded miles on foot to the ocean by pale skinned visitors with fire sticks. She watches her fellow Africans suffer incomprehensible humiliation and death at the hands of their captors as they are shipped like animal cargo across the ocean. The life that awaits her is nothing like she could have ever imagined.

Amari must adapt to life as a purchased slave on a rice plantation, a life that includes atrocities committed upon her by her white owners. She meets Polly, an indentured servant who has dreams of making it to the big house and being a fine lady of standing. Instead, Polly lives in the slave quarters and finds she's given the chore of civilizing Amari, now called Myna, and teaching her enough English to work. After witnessing murder, the two girls find themselves thrown together in a desperate run for freedom.

This is not just another book about slavery. This is a book about something real and tangible. Ms. Draper's writing is so vivid that you can smell the rank odors beneath ship. You can feel the pain of being lashed with a whip. Your throat will constrict at the heart-wrenching pain of a mother and child being forced apart. You will also celebrate the strength and spirit of Amari and those she inspires.

COPPER SUN won the Coretta Scott King Award. This is a book I will make sure goes on my classroom shelves. ( )

This book was painful to read, both because of the relentless tragedies in the plot and because of the somewhat heavy writing style. However, I read it through to the end because I found it to be a good exercise in imagining people's lives in the South in the time of slavery. Some historical details were new and interesting to me -- the role of Fort Mose for example. ( )

What a great classroom novel this would be! Beginning with Amari's capture in her village, this story really draws you into the feelings of "not being free". How cruel people can be to other people who they consider to be less than themselves! I had never heard of a slave sanctuary in Florida, so this historical fiction taught me something. ( )