Steamboat School

Steamboat School

Author: Deborah Hopkinson

Illustrator: Ron Husband

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade Level: Pre-K to 5^th grade

“Sometimes courage is just an ordinary boy like me doing a small thing, as small as picking up a pencil.”

The story takes place in Missouri State where it is against the law for colored people slave or free to receive any form of education. The story is through James perspective, a young boy who is discovering the need for education. The first day he goes to school with his sister Tassie, who takes him to the basement where Reverend John has set up a small class for the children. There are no windows, so it is very dark to see anything. James comments that he misses the sun to which Reverend John tells him “We make our own light here.” James goes one to tell a little story about Reverend John on how he freed himself out of slavery in Kentucky and how he ended up in Missouri to free his wife. Then one day, men come rushing down at the basement to dismiss the class and with a new law 1847 that states “No person shall keep any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, reading or writing, in this State.” James goes back to working with his mother helping to deliver laundry. On his way one day to work, he meets Reverend John who shows him their new school, a steamboat. The steamboat allows the children to receive education as it does not break State law since the steamboat will be floating on the river which belongs to the whole country. James continues to receive an education that way till he is old enough to take younger children to the steamboat to receive an education.

The illustration has a vintage setting colors in it that the only color that stands out is red. I think it is great because it incorporates with the somber environment that the characters in the book were facing during that time. The words are featured either at the top of the page or at the bottom of that page. Some of the text is colored red and I personally think that it was done so as it holds a significant message. The back of the book also features a brief history about Reverend John Berry Meachum that is always interesting to read!

Thoughts:

WOW. This book was an eye-opener. I always appreciated education but now I appreciate it even more! We take it for granted on how easy we have access to education. It was not so back in the 1800s as there was restriction on who can be educated and who cannot. It is so bizarre for us to think this way now. (Restriction on education? Why?) We are so lucky to have education rights but back then you had to play a little hide and seek game with the government to receive an education. And also, you had to be clever, brave and courageous to fight for this fundamental educational right. This would be a good moral story to read to students on just how important education is and how education can bring enhancement in your life.