Historical Fiction: Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

Copper Sun begins in an African village where a young girl named Amari is growing up peacefully and happily. Suddenly, however, that all changes when her village is attacked by slave traders, and she and hundreds of other Africans are marched across miles of desert to board the slave ships to America. Amari is sold to a plantation owner in South Carolina and becomes the property of the owners son, Clay.  Amari also meets another young girl, Polly, an indentured servant, who at first seems to be difficult and unpleasant, but later becomes Amari's friend.  The two dream of escaping the plantation for a better life. Ultimately, both girls are able to escape to Fort Mose in Florida where they can live in freedom with other runaways and former slaves.

I have taught Sharon Draper's Hazelwood trilogy for several years now and also had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Draper when she came as a guest author to the high school where I worked in South Carolina.  Because of my familiarity with her novels of realistic fiction, I was interested to see how Mrs. Draper would handle a historical fiction novel.  I heard rave reviews about Copper Sun, so I gave it a try.  The story of Amari is a powerful one.  When Draper tells of how the people in Amari's village welcomed the slave traders as guests only to be betrayed and attack, the effect on the reader is powerful.  To see Amari's future taken from her when she had so much to look forward to is heartbreaking.  The description of the deadly trek to the coast and the equally deadly oversea journey to America really brings the horrors of slavery to life for the reader.  Once in America, Amari's experience gives the reader a good look at what life was like for a slave on a Southern plantation.  I think it is interesting, also, that Draper chooses to present the story of an indentured servant, since many readers will not be as aware of this practice.  While I felt the story became a little tedious during the girls' escape to Fort Mose, I was fascinated by the fact that a place like Fort Mose even existed.  It is certainly a part of our nation's history of which I was previously unaware.  I think, too, that the girls' successful escape may not be a realistic ending, but perhaps Draper felt that a somewhat happy ending was necessary after the tragedy of Amari's experience.

One thing I love about Sharon Draper and her books is the wealth of information and teaching aids that she offers online.  As a former National Teacher of the Year, her materials are top notch, making any of her novels a great choice for school libraries.  I have used her materials in teaching the Hazelwood trilogy and been very pleased, and I looked over the materials offered for Copper Sun and found them to be very thorough.  She includes pre- and post-reading activities, discussion questions, ideas for research, and a variety of writing prompts, as well as an additional 19 page unit plan.  I felt that while an English teacher could certainly use the book and materials in class, the wealth of materials might also make a history teacher a bit less hesitant to attack teaching a novel in class and might open the door for some collaboration between history teachers and the media specialist in approaching the novel.

References

Draper, S. (2006). Copper sun. New York: Atheneum.

Draper, S. (n.d.) SharonDraper.com. Retrieved from http://sharondraper.com/index.asp