| The Slave Dancer | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 131 reviews)
Sales Rank: 107181
Category: Book
Author: Paula Fox
Publisher: Aladdin
Studio: Aladdin
Manufacturer: Aladdin
Label: Aladdin
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 1416971394
EAN: 9781416971399
ASIN: 1416971394
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
One day, thirteen-year-old jessie Bollier is earning pennies playing his fife on the docks of New Orleans; the next, he is kidnapped and thrown aboard a slave ship, where his job is to provide music while shackled slaves "dance" to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable. As the endless voyage continues, Jessie grows increasingly sickened by the greed, brutality, and inhumanity of the slave trade, but nothing prepares him for the ultimate horror he will witness before his nightmare ends -- a horror that will change his life forever.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 126 more reviews...
 The Slave Dancer March 8, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Very good book! This is a Newbery Award winner. I'm a retired 7th grade reading teacher. I required my students to write their book reports on Newbery winners, only. Many of my classes thoroughly enjoyed, and recommended this book.
 To Dance With Slaves.... March 8, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The title sais it all. The slave dancer by paula Fox is a great short for experienced readers. The andventure of the plot will catch your Attention faster than Jessie can play his pipe. The only downfall of this plot is the... Well, we will let the discovering part of the adventure to you. Even After reading this book, You will wish you could dance with slaves in and on the mnoonlight as much as i wish i could do.
The slave dancer November 28, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
What I think about the book is that it great and exicting story line and my favorite part is when they get the horrible diease. The reason I like the part about the disease is because it everyone gets the horrible diease beside the captain. The second part that I like was when they got kidnapping and became slaves and they got more and more people to become slaves. The third part that I like was when they saw a cockfight. Then they notice that the coast of Africa is now coming to and end. the cool thing that I notice was when the sun had set the sky will remain the of the rope. In the beginning of the book it was talking about his mothers childhood. She remember that there was always people smoking somewhere in Massachusetts. I also read about the same author. At the end of the book when Jesse played a note on his fife he could remember the black men and women and children dancing around him. It is adventurous and very good and I hope that I can read it again. That is what I think about the book.
Excellent, thought provoking story November 4, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I teach reading to both Junior and Senior high school students so I am always looking for superior adolescent literature. The Slave Dancer, by Paula Fox, winner of the Newbery Medal for most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1974, is a good choice.
The novel, set in 1840, revolves around Jesse Boller, a teenage boy from New Orleans. Because Jessie enjoys playing the fife, he is kidnapped and forced to work on The Moonlight, a slave ship. His job is to play the fife while the slaves are forced to dance. I have read elsewhere that dancing the slaves supposedly kept some muscle tone during the long voyage.
We see the voyage through the eyes of young Jesse, a boy who had never thought much about slavery. Men who have compromised with evil and greed surround him and, in a way, he too has been enslaved. During the voyage, he learns about the flawed men who now control his life and the lives of the 98 slaves locked in the hold.
The novel could certainly be used in middle or high school literature, English or even history classes. It is fiction but it depicts historical events well. In my high school reading class we completed the novel in just over six weeks. The book is written for adolescent readers. Sex and violence is told of but not described in lurid detail. However, the `N' word is used to describe the slaves on multiple occasions. Because slavers, not Jesse, use the term, I feel it adds to the brutal picture of the time. A vocabulary list of nautical and archaic terms might be helpful for class reading.
This is not the kind of book you enjoy, this is the kind of book you think about. I recommend it for adolescent or young adult readers.
Kyle Pratt
Poetic October 31, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Finished another one late at night. This one had a poetic spirit from the beginning to the end - from the fragrant spools of thread to the music at the end. I liked this one.
I hadn't heard of slaves having to dance before this book. It makes me wonder if it was common or a rare thing with certain captains. The character development was wonderful, each of the characters seemed to transform. Though a darker story, it had a lot to think about.
One of my favorite quotes:
"...the hope that delivered me from the depths and brought me up to air again again as though most of my true life had taken place in that stretch of the sea."
I liked it because it's almost how life is. You go through the bad parts and struggle as if you're drowning. It seems you forget the times before and can only concentrate on breathing.
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