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Freedom's Pen: A Story Based on the Life of Freed Slave and Author Phillis Wheatley  -     
        By: Wendy Lawton

Freedom's Pen: A Story Based on the Life of Freed Slave and Author Phillis Wheatley

Moody Publishers / 2009 / Paperback
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Product Description

Phillis Wheatley was the first published African-American poet. Captured and sold as a slave, her masters encouraged her love of learning and writing through English and Bible lessons. Only 20 when her book of poetry debuted to nationwide acclaim, this fictionalized historical biography will inspire readers with her dedication to knowledge and unwavering faith in Christ. 135 pages, softcover.

Product Information

Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 150
Vendor: Moody Publishers
Publication Date: 2009
Dimensions: 7.50 X 5.25 (inches)
ISBN: 0802476392
ISBN-13: 9780802476395
Availability: In Stock
Ages: 9-12
Series: Daughters of the Faith

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Publisher's Description

The Daughters of the Faith series has been a great success for Moody so far with 120,000 copies sold. Courage to Run is the most successful, with sales of 39,000. Tinker's Daughter is the next highest, at more than 19,000. They are all continuing to grow.
    
There are a few elements of this series that separate it from many other children's book biographies. First, these books are about little girls. They are not biographies of the entire life of these characters- these are stories about girls who made a difference while they were still young. This enables the young girl readers to relate to the characters more than they would if these characters had to wait until they were thirty or forty before doing anything significant.

Second, these stories are faith journeys. Wendy gets inside the minds of these girls in order to portray their struggles to make God an active part of their lives.

In 1761, Phillis Wheatley was a little girl of seven or eight years old when she was captured in Gambia and brought to America as a slave. But she didn't let her circumstances keep her down. She learned to read and write in English and Latin, and showed a natural gift for poetry. By the time she was twelve, her elegy at the death of the great pastor George Whitefield brought her worldwide acclaim. Phillis became known to heads of state, including George Washington himself, speaking out for American independence and the end of slavery. She became the first African American to publish a book, and her writings would eventually win her freedom. More importantly, her poetry still proclaims Christ almost 250 years later.

Author Bio

WENDY LAWTON, an award-winning writer, sculptor, and doll designer, founded the Lawton Doll Company in 1979. She currently works as an agent for the Books & Such Literary Agency. Wendy has written numerous books, including six for her Daughters of Faith series and four for her Real TV series. Wendy is active in her church and is a frequent speaker for women's groups. Wendy and her husband, Keith, are parents to three adult children and live in Hilmar, California.

ChristianBookPreviews

Gambian native. Slave. Christian. American poet. Freewoman. Phillis Wheatley was all of these. Wendy Lawton tells her story in Freedom’s Pen. Written for young girls, Freedom’s Pen carries young readers from Phillis’s life in Gambia through her capture, her misery on the slave ship, her friendship with fellow slave Obour, her purchase by the Wheatleys, and her life there until obtaining freedom.

Phillis’s story begins in Africa with a slice of what her life might have been like. The author’s note explains that Phillis mentioned her life in Africa only three times in her writing, so little is known of what it was actually like. The author describes enough of the slave ship environment for girls to know that it was horrid and evil without being graphic.

Lawton chronicles Phillis’s unusual relationship to the Wheatley family as not quite slave and not quite family, as Susannah Wheatley tries to help others realize that Africans were human by showing that they could learn if given a chance. Lawton also shows the difficult and lonely position this places Phillis in, as other slaves reject and resent her. Phillis attempts to apply Scripture such as “Love your enemies… and pray for them that spitefully use you” (Matthew 5:44) to a fictional relationship with a hostile fellow slave.

Freedom’s Pen is well-written, moving, and enjoyable. From a biblical viewpoint, it introduces young readers to a historical character who achieved great things in her short life. My nine-year-old daughter loved reading it and had me read it to her after she read it. She had no trouble with the vocabulary or with the descriptions of life on shipboard. I am considering purchasing other books in this series because of this one. – Debbie W. Wilson, www.christianbookpreviews.com

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