Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule

by Harriet Gillem Robinet, Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Overview

Winner of the 1999 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
A CBC Notable Children’s Book in the Field of Social Studies

Two recently freed, formerly enslaved brothers work to protect the new life they’ve built during the Reconstruction after the Civil War in this vibrant, illustrated middle grade novel.

Maybe nobody gave freedom, and nobody could take it away like they could take away a family farm. Maybe freedom was something you claimed for yourself.

Like other ex-slaves, Pascal and his older brother Gideon have been promised forty acres and maybe a mule. With the found family they have built along the way, they claim a place of their own.

Green Gloryland is the most wonderful place on earth, their own farm with a healthy cotton crop and plenty to eat. But the notorious night riders have plans to take it away, threatening to tear the beautiful freedom that the two boys are enjoying for the first time in their young lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439136232
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	02/22/2011
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
Lexile:	610L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Harriette Gillem Robinet was born in Washington, DC, and spent her childhood summers in Arlington, Virginia where her mother’s father had been a slave under General Robert E. Lee. She attended the College of New Rochelle in New York and received graduate degrees in microbiology from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. The author of several award-winning books for children, Ms. Robinet makes her home in Oak Park, Illinois.

Wendell Minor has illustrated dozens of picture books, and his work has won countless awards and is in permanent collections of such institutions as the Museum of American Illustration and the Library of Congress. His cover illustrations have graced some of the most significant novels of our time by authors such as Toni Morrison, David McCullough, and James Michener. He lives in Washington, Connecticut. Visit him online at MinorArt.com.

Reading Group Guide

1. How did slavery destroy Pascal and Gideon's original family? How did they create a new one for themselves?

2. What are some of the methods that plantation owners used to make their slaves feel powerless? What powers did the slaves have at their disposal? What were the risks of using them? What were the rewards?

3. Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves, in 1863, but Pascal didn't leave his plantation until 1865. Why did the news take so long to reach him? What communication devices were available back then? Which have been invented since?

4. Pascal's mother is dead before the novel begins, but she is still an important character in the story. What did she value most? Why did she die? Why is Pascal angry at her? Why is he proud of her?

5. Recalling a whipping he suffered back on the plantation, Pascal grits his teeth and wonders, "How had I lived through that?" What do you think? How did he endure such physical brutality? Could you have? Why or why not?

6. Pascal's teacher, Miss Anderson, was from New England and new to Georgia. Why do you think she left her home to go down South? Why is she so uncomfortable around her students at first? What does she expect of them? How and why does she change over the next several months?

7. Pascal is disabled-lame in one leg and with a weak arm. How does his disability affect the way others treat him? How does it affect Pascal's self-image and his behavior?

8. "Maybe freedom's different things for different people," Pascal decides in Chapter Three. What does freedom mean to Pascal? What does it mean to Gideon, Mr. Freedman, and Nelly? What does it mean to you? Do you feel free? Why or whynot?

Editorial Reviews

Forty Acres and Maybe a Muleis the story of two young brothers who set out with other slaves for the Freedman's Bureau, to receive their forty acres. For Pascal, one of the book's main characters, having land also means getting respect from the white man. The author's unique descriptions of events will certainly appeal to a child's sense of adventure as they learn about unity, courage, patience and most importantly, about believing in them-selves.
— Black Issue Review

Klara Fontaine

A 12-year-old orphaned slave leaves South Carolina in search of a Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction to claim the "40 acres and a mule" promised by General Sherman. "A stirring story of self-determination," said PW. Ages 8-12. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-6-Once again, Robinet has humanized a little-known piece of American history. In the spring of 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau approved a plan to give 40 acres of abandoned land to former slave families. Forty thousand freed people took advantage of that offer, only to lose their farms when it was withdrawn in September. The author focuses on Pascal, 12, a slave on a plantation in South Carolina. His older brother Gideon, who ran away during the war, returns to collect him and they head for Georgia, determined to become landowners. Teaming up with Pascal's friend Nelly and the elderly Mr. Freedman and his granddaughter, they form a family, claim land, and begin to farm. The Bibbs, white neighbors from Tennessee, are helpful in protecting them from the night riders who are determined to destroy black-owned farms. Despite their hard work, Pascal and the others are evicted at the end of the summer. Luckily, Gideon had found a treasure buried under a tree, and they set out to buy land on the Georgia Sea Islands. Pascal is a likable boy whose withered hand and leg limit his body but not his mind and whose dreadful jokes entertain everyone. The dialect may deter some readers at first, but sympathy for the characters will keep children going until they reach the satisfying ending.-Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC

School Library Journal

From Robinet (The Twins, the Pirates, and the Battle of New Orleans, 1997, etc.), an earnest look at the human face and the human cost of Reconstruction in the South. Pascal's older brother, Gideon, comes back for him after running away from the plantation, saying that he is free, that all the slaves are free, made so by President Lincoln, and they are to get 40 acres to farm. As Pascal and Gideon search for the Freedmen's Bureau that will give them title, they build a family of other former slaves. They get their spread, which they name Green Gloryland, but their hard work and joy are short-lived; a few months after they have planted cotton and built a house, their land is given over to whites, and the school and other black settlements are burned. Much of what happens in this story is told rather than shown, while the characters never come fully off the page. The text is often heavy- handed, e.g., "Colored and white, we're all just neighbors" and "Why couldn't white people just let them live?" Pascal, who has a withered arm and leg, is an inveterate punster, which adds levity to an otherwise grim story. (bibliography) (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Getting the 40 acres (and maybe a mule) that Reconstructionists have promised freed slaves after the Civil War is hard enough. Holding on to such a farm is nigh onto impossible in this moving story of young Pascal, his determined older brother, and the other African-Americans who form an ad hoc family as they try to make a fresh start using the only currency they have--their newfound freedom. Narrator Andrea Johnson sounds like a favorite teacher reading aloud to her spellbound class as she guides listeners gently through the highs and lows of this heartfelt story. M.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

APR/MAY 01 - AudioFile