Free!: Great Escapes from Slavery on the Underground Railroad

Bestselling author Lorene Cary's first young adult book, Free!, is a collection of true stories from the Underground Railroad written for readers of all ages. It chronicles the heroic journeys of real men, women, and children riding, running, and even swimming to freedom. The reader is brought inside the box and under the burlap sack to learn what it was really like to flee from slavery. The narratives in Free! have been adapted from the records of William Still, co-chair of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and author of The Underground Railroad, a self-published book detailing the accounts of more than 700 escapes. Each account is true and documented. In these stories of hope and human struggle, Cary brings to life an important and overlooked part of American history. Cary herself says: "These are the stories I wanted my own children to read: they show black people as agents of their own freedom strugglesowhich they were!"