Copper Sun

I really enjoyed reading “Copper Sun.” It was a very difficult book to read, however, because of the horrific images the author described in the book. The image that stuck with me the most was that of the slave ship; I was disgusted when reading about the horrors of traveling from Africa to the United States. Although many of the descriptions are hard to read, I believe that this is a very important book for adolescents to read. I do not believe that shielding a child from the past counts as educating that child. While I do not think that Amari’s story is appropriate for kindergarteners, I do think that it is something that older children (8th grade and up) need to be taught. Books like “Copper Sun” are important because (unlike history books) they allow children to identify with and care about a specific character. Through this method, authors are able to make young readers understand how bad slavery was and how helpless many slaves felt. I also really liked how the book included Polly as a main character. Polly showed how hatred and violence towards slaves was eventually stopped. When Polly was introduced to the story she did not like anyone who was black. She was very racist and believed herself to be better than Amari and the other slaves. As Polly lived and worked with them, she got to know them and became a part of their family. This is important because it shows that people who originally were very prejudiced were proved wrong once they got to know and care about the people they thought they hated.