This image is the cover for the book Crossing to Freedom

Crossing to Freedom

An inspiring tale of fugitive slave who finds freedom in Canada, but still struggles to find a real home.

Eleven-year-old Solomon is a fugitive slave on a dangerous journey north to Canada, and to freedom. His young life has seen many losses: his mother was sold in a slave auction when he was a baby; his father escaped from the plantation and hasn't been seen in five years; and now his grandfather, who has been injured during the last leg of their journey to freedom, and is forced to stay behind.Solomon continues with their group leader, but his feelings of loss and isolation haunt him, as he attempts to forge a new home in Canada.

It soon becomes apparent that racial prejudices know no borders, and while Solomon works hard and begins to experience some newfound freedoms, he faces discrimination and segregation and lives with the ongoing fear of being caught by slavecatchers and dragged back to the South.

With all of these barriers facing him, Solomon must find the strength - the same strength that brought him north, the same strength that gives him hope of finding his father - to persevere and understand the true meaning of freedom.

Virginia Frances Schwartz

VIRGINIA FRANCES SCHWARTZ was born in Stoney Creek, Ontario, and later moved to the U.S.,where she taught public school for 25 years. She is the author of the award-winning If I Just Had Two Wings and Send One Angel Down. Of Crossing to Freedom, Virginia says: "My intent in writing is to discover the human voice of the first generation of former slaves... What was the price they paid for being a fugitive for many months?" Virginia lives in Great Neck, New York.

Scholastic Canada Ltd.