Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

After watching her entire family murdered, fifteen-year-old Amari’s idyllic life becomes a living nightmare as she is forced to march to the coast in irons and travels the Middle Passage to face a lifetime of slavery in the Carolinas. Will she ever see her love again? Will her plan to escape to the South really work? Draper’s work of historical fiction alternates perspective from Amari to Polly, a fifteen-year-old white indentured servant whose responsibility it is to train Amari in the duties and conduct of a slave. The girls’ relationship blossoms into a friendship as each discovers surprising similarities in their plights and histories, despite their preconceived notions of each other. This compelling read would naturally supplement any unit on the Middle Passage, slavery in America, and colonialism in America as Draper includes historical information on Fort Mose, a Spanish colony that guaranteed freedom to any escaped slave. Partner Copper Sun with The Middle Passage by Tom Feelings, which can also be found in your library.

Draper, Sharon. Copper Sun. New York: Simon Pulse, 2006.