Jefferson's Sons : : a Founding Father's Secret Children

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	Y Fiction / Bradley, Kimberly	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024

A fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson's life at Monticello through the eyes of three of his slaves, two of whom were his sons by his slave, Sally Hemings.

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Fascinating But Flawed submitted by sdunav on July 2, 2012, 4:21pm This is a fascinating piece of historical fiction - and was hotly debated over at the Heavy Medal blog as a contender for the 2011 Newbery Medal. It's the story of Thomas Jefferson's illegitimate sons (and some other slave children) in the early 1800's at Monticello.

The historical background is wonderfully done, but the boys - I don't know. I don't think the characters ring true, somehow. The criticisms at Heavy Medal are quite valid, and yet it is a better story than the critics would lead you to believe, and it provides a fascinating intro. to slavery in the US for kids. So - recommended for middle grade kids, and maybe particularly good for analyzing the advantages & disadvantages of historical fiction for older kids/adults.

Good book submitted by zoe.dvh on August 19, 2015, 12:59pm This is a good book.

three perspectives submitted by camelsamba on July 6, 2018, 9:09pm The story is told from three different perspectives: two of Jefferson's (slave) sons, and one of their friends. The different boys take over the narrative around age 8, which was an interesting way to frame it. One drawback for me was frequent repetition of certain interactions, even within the first perspective (Beverly's). I suppose that is accurate for the mother-son relationship as parent teaches child, but it felt unnecessary (then again, I'm older than the target audience!). Young fans of historical fiction will surely enjoy this.

Great book submitted by sumisood on July 7, 2023, 9:51pm The book has three perspectives from three different sons of Jefferson and their mom who is a slave. Beverly, who has been promised to be freed when he was older because he could pass as white, Madison (Maddy), who will probably never be freed, and Eston who is the spitting image of his father. It's a great story to show how badly slaves were being treated.