Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Bibliography
Anderson, Laurie Halse. 2008. Chains. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781416905868

Plot Summary
After being sold to a very cruel couple from New York, a young slave girl named Isabel spies for the Rebels during the Revolutionary war.

Critical Analysis
Isabel knew that the day would come when she would be free. When Miss Mary Finch, Isabel and Ruth’s kind owner who taught them how to read, died; she expected to be released. Before their faith could be decided, the lawyer, who has Mrs. Finch’s will, is gone and Mrs. Finch’s nephew, the ungrateful Mr. Robert decides to sell both girls. The girls are then sold to Mr. and Mrs. Lockton. As the girls make their voyage from Rhode Island to New York City Isabel crosses paths with a boy named Curzon who informs her that her new owner Mr. Lockton is a dirty Loyalist who believes in slavery. Curzon asks Isabel to spy on her masters and inform him about plans and conspiracies against General Washington. Isabel chooses not to have anything to do with politics and refuses to help, but Isabel changes her mind after she realizes what Curzon had said earlier was a hard truth, that her master will say anything in front of her because slaves don’t count. After Isabel’s sister is sold and shipped to the West Indies, she becomes even more determined to help so that maybe the Rebels will help find Ruth and help them gain their freedom. Set in 1776 during the American Revolution, each chapter begins with a newspaper article, advertisement, handbill, or letter from the time period. For example, the following ad is a newspaper advertisement from the Royal Gazette in New York: Run-away from the subscriber, living at No. 110, Water-street, near the new slip. A Negro girl named POLL, about 13 years of age, very black, marked with the Small Pox, and had on when she went away a red cloth petticoat, and a light blue short gown, homemade. Whoever will take up and secure the said girl so that the owner may get her shall be handsomely rewarded. These components provide a sense of the time and place as we see these historical events through Isabel’s eyes. Readers may not understand the harsh realities that thirteen year old Isabel had endured from beaten nearly to death because she tried to run away to being branded in her face with the letter I for being insolent, but will sympathize with her for being courageous in fighting for something many take for granted, freedom.

Review Excerpt(s)
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review- “Startlingly provocative…nuanced and evenhanded…a fast-moving, emotionally involving plot.”

Booklist, Starred Review-“Anderson explores elemental themes of power, freedom, and the sources of human strength in this searing, fascinating story.”

Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review- “Readers will care deeply about Isabel…”

Connections
*Received the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
*National Book Award Finalist
*Slavery
*Revolutionary War
*Children and Slavery