The Freedom Maze
by Delia Sherman
Published 2011 by Small Beer Press
Ebook borrowed from the library
Read August 2012
258 pages
My favorite book in fifth grade was Jane Yolen’s The Devil Arithmetic, the story of a young Jewish girl who is transported back in time to a concentration camp. I read The Devil’s Arithmetic the way some people read Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre: over and over and over, often sneaking pages under my desk during science lessons, basically eating the book until it was falling apart and the pages no long stayed attached to the binding. So when I heard about The Freedom Maze, a book about a young, Southern white girl in 1960 who goes back in time to live as a slave in 1860, I was unable to resist the muffled cries of my 10 year-old self, pleading with me to give it a chance.
I don’t read a lot of young adult fiction anymore, but what I can say is this: The Freedom Maze would have ended up the way of The Devil’s Arithmetic in my younger self’s hands. (I was pleasantly not-quite-surprised to read Solomon’s thanks to Jane Yolen in the acknowledgements.) In fact, as someone who tends to avoid young adult fiction, I found myself thoroughly charmed and surprised by the risks Sherman took in this novel.
Grade: A
Recommended: When you’re looking for a unique, well-written YA story.
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This sounds wonderful! Little me was moderately to extremely upset by The Devil’s Arithmetic, and I don’t think I reread it because it was too upsetting. But now I am old and tough, I bet I could handle this without getting nightmares.
Haha, I certainly hope so! It’s such a great book. I can totally see how it could have caused nightmares, though,
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and read these books as my 10 year old self.
I’m totally with you on that. There are some young adult books that really would have made my life so much easier if they had existed when I was 15-17.
Echoing Jenny, it does sound wonderful. The topic might be difficult but it seems a good way to tackle it.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book, I really ought to read it!
It’s reallllllly gooood.
A few months ago (I think?) Ana introduced me to Small Beer Pub, and this title stood out to me, but then as so often happens I forgot about it again. This sounds really good! I guess I should put it on a wishlist so I won’t forget about it again.