Picture Books: The Middle Passage

Title: The Middle Passage

Author: Tom Feelings

Publisher: Dial Books

Genre: Picture Book

Number of Pages: 80

Discovery of Book: Found while searching the library shelves

Reading Level: 4th grade- Adult

Awards: Book Links (A.L.A.), Books for the Teen Age, Corretta Scott King Award/Honor, Horned Book starred, Noteable/Best Books (A.L.A.), School Library Journal, Wilson's Junior High School, Wilson's Senior High School

Summary: The Middle Passage is a powerful picture book that depicts, through paintings, the slave trade of African Americans. After a brief introduction describing the triangular trade system, the pictures shows the struggles and atrocities faced by African Americans who were stolen from their father land and brought to America against their will. Some paintings show slaves on board ships being beaten, tortured or shot. Others show the slaves internal struggle of being separated from their loved ones, while being forced toendlessly work. The Middle Passage leaves the reader with a true sense of sorrow, pain, and agony about a trying time in American History.

Personal Connection: After flipping the pages of The Middle Passage any reader, young or old, would be awestruck by the powerful depiction of slavery. Each picture tells a story, whether it be of how the triangular trade system worked, or the difficulty in the lives of African Americans. For example, one picture in particular, on pages 46-47, shows how the stolen men of Africa were bound with shackles around their feet and ropes around their neck to keep them from trying to escape off the boat. To make matters worse, the slaves were crammed into tiny spaces filled with other men. Just looking at the picture could make anyone have the feeling of a sore back! The misery on the mens' faces is heart wrenching and moving. This book truly allows the topic of abuse against humans to come to the fore front of any conversation.

Classroom Usage: The beginning pages of The Middle Passage gives a fantastic overview of the slave trade. An independent reader in the higher elementary grades would most likely be somewhat successful in handling the introduction by themselves. Even then, support by the teacher may be needed due to the use of technical language. In the middle school classroom, reading the introduction whole class would be a fantastic way to initiate a discussion about The Middle Passage. The students would then work in groups of 4-5 to browse the pictures, carefully studying the faces, emotions, and actions of each illustration. The students could then write down examples and reasons of why they believe that The Middle Passage was or was not a holocaust using details from the book.