Nearer My FreedomNearer My Freedom

Millions of Africans were enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade, but few recorded their personal experiences. Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is perhaps the most well known of the autobiographies that exist. Using this narrative as a primary source text, authors Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge share Equiano's life story in "found verse," supplemented with annotations to give readers historical context. This poetic approach provides interesting analysis and synthesis, helping readers to better understand the original text. Follow Equiano from his life in Africa as a child to his enslavement at a young age, his travels across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, his liberation, and his life as a free man. "Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge-former fourth grade co-teachers-brilliantly transform the autobiography into 'found poems' by cutting and rearranging Equiano's original into verse . . . Their deft transformation of Equiano's odyssey is well-equipped to inspire and empower new generations."-starred, Shelf Awareness "In this unique work of nonfiction, Edinger and Younge transform the words of Olaudah Equiano's 1789 autobiographical slavery narrative into found-verse poetry. . . . [An] absorbing, singular creation."-starred, Booklist "Without losing the source text's emotional heft, Edinger and Younge's visceral poems respectfully provide an effective entry point into the seminal work."-starred, Publishers Weekly "Highly readable as well as informative. An excellent way to understand a remarkable individual and his times."-starred, Kirkus Reviews "This moving found-verse adaptation of the formerly enslaved Equiano's 1789 memoir makes a seminal work of history accessible to young readers."-New York Times Book Review