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Shelley Pearsall uses similes to create certain images. For example, “He walked ahead, snapping branches like bones under his feet.” (p. 87)  Ask students to find other similes in the novel. As an exercise, encourage them to replace Pearsall’s similes with their own.

Reverend Pry is writing a brief story about Samuel to tell to his congregation. He begins, “Our forty-fifth visitor was a boy named Samuel, eleven years of age.” (p. 122) Have students write out the beginning of Reverend Pry’s speech and then continue the story up to the point where Samuel and Harrison reach Canada. They should write the way they think Reverend Pry would have, keeping in mind the congregation audience. Encourage them to add illustrations and read their stories aloud.

Encourage students to research the Underground Railroad using the library’s catalog and research databases provided through OhioLINK. The picture file database in EBSCO’s Academic Search Premiere provides particularly poignant and moving photographs depicting the period of American slavery. You might also have students create chapter illustrations using visual elements and symbols from the novel.

Among the people involved in the fight to end slavery were Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Angelina and Sarah Grimke, William Lloyd Garrison, and Lucretia Mott. Ask each student to research the work of one of these activitists, and write a speech that he/she might have given.

The issues of slavery became the central focus of American politics in the 19th century. Ask students to research the major political issues regarding slavery such as the Black Codes, Emancipation Proclamation, Fugitive Slave Acts, Compromise of 1850, and the 13th Amendment. Have them construct a timeline that reveals the growing concerns about slavery during this time. Which politician is credited with ending slavery? How did issues of slavery continue into the 20th century?

Samuel wonders how far he and Harrison have to go to get to freedom. Ask students to study the map of their journey. (p. 231) Then have them use a United States atlas and calculate the miles by today’s road system that Samuel and Harrison travel to reach freedom.

Science

Harrison becomes sick on the trip to Canada. At one point, he looks for an ax to put under the straw mattress to keep the chills away. (p. 111) Later, Belle mixes brandy and egg for Harrison’s fever and Samuel remembers Lilly remedy of boiling fence-grass and water. Ask students to investigate superstitions and health remedies, such as herbal remedies and folk cures. Make an illustrated booklet that explains these superstitions.

Drama

“Big River” is a musical play based on the friendship between Huckleberry Finn and the slave Jim. Play the soundtrack of Big River in class, and ask students to use this resource to locate the lyrics to the songs “Muddy Water” and “The Crossin”.  Suppose Trouble Don’t Last is being staged. Where in the production would Samuel and Harrison sing these two songs?

Music

Ask students to use books in the library or sites on the Internet to locate the popular Negro spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Have them perform the song for another class, and explain how the song directly refers to the Underground Railroad. Students may enjoy reading the lyrics of other Negro spirituals found on the Thomas Wentworth Higginson site.

Visual Arts

A common toy in the 19th century was clay marbles. Slave children often made their own marbles by rolling the clay and applying colored designs. Samuel had a set of clay marbles until Miz Catherine took them from him. Make a set of six clay marbles that Samuel might have made after he reached Canada. Apply designs that represent freedom.

Cited Resources: Random House Books For Children Discussion Guide
The contents of this guide are used with permission. The copyrighted guide was created by Pat Scales, Director of Library Services, the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, South Carolina.