About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherKids CAN Press, The Limited

ISBN-101525310860

ISBN-139781525310867

eBay Product ID (ePID)19057276838

Product Key Features

Book TitleMy Name Is Phillis Wheatley : a Story of Slavery and Freedom

Number of Pages152 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2023

TopicBiographical / United States, People & Places / United States / African American, Historical / United States / 19th Century

GenreJuvenile Fiction

AuthorAfua Cooper

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.8 in

Item Weight6.7 Oz

Item Length6.9 in

Item Width5.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceJuvenile Audience

Dewey Edition22

Grade FromFifth Grade

Dewey Decimal813/.54

Grade ToNinth Grade

SynopsisThis is the remarkable story of Phillis Wheatley, who is born into an African family of griots, or storytellers, but captured by slave raiders and forced aboard a slave ship, where appalling conditions spell death for many of her companions. Numerous sharks follow the ship, feeding on the corpses of slaves thrown overboard. Weakened by the voyage and near death in a Boston slave market, Wheatley is bought by a kind family who nurses her back to health and teaches her to read and write. Soon her mistress recognizes that the girl is a quick learner and talented. At the age of 12, a torrent of poetry begins to flow out of Wheatley. Proud of her achievements, her mistress organizes readings in Boston's finest parlors and drawing rooms, and Wheatley's fame spreads. But even when many in Boston are calling her a prodigy and a genius, some remain unsure that a slave should be able to write, much less write poetry. When Phillis travels to London she is a media sensation, feted by the cream of English society. A book of her poems is published, and she finally gains her freedom. This amazing story, wide in scope, is based on fact and told convincingly from young Wheatley's point of view., This is the remarkable story of Phillis Wheatley, who is born into an African family of griots, or storytellers, but captured by slave raiders and forced aboard a slave ship, where appalling conditions spell death for many of her companions. Numerous sharks follow the ship, feeding on the corpses of slaves thrown overboard. Weakened by the voyage and near death in a Boston slave market, Wheatley is bought by a kind family who nurses her back to health and teaches her to read and write. Soon her mistress recognises that the girl is a quick learner and talented. At the age of 12, a torrent of poetry begins to flow out of Wheatley. Proud of her achievements, her mistress organises readings in Boston's finest parlours and drawing rooms, and Wheatley's fame spreads. But even when many in Boston are calling her a prodigy and a genius, some remain unsure that a slave should be able to write, much less write poetry. When Phillis travels to London she is a media sensation, feted by the cream of English society. A book of her poems is published, and she finally gains her freedom. This amazing story, wide in scope, is based on fact and told convincingly from young Wheatley's point of view.