Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge

How do you tell the story of the life of a person who lived long before cameras and television and social media, a person who left few records of her life? And how do you share the story of that person in a captivating way with children of today who may be bewildered and confused by the events of the past?

Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve have done this well in Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge.

Dunbar and Van Cleve carefully draw upon the written records from the time—letters, court documents, census records, and others—to create a story of the life of a slave who ran away. It's a story that often speaks directly to the reader, explaining events and activities of the past that might seem confusing to a young person of today's time, adding speculations about the things Ona Judge might have been doing and saying and thinking based on records of what others in similar situations were doing and saying and thinking, with little asides that serve as reminders to children of the ways things were very different in Judge's time.

It's a captivating story, and I think children would greatly benefit from reading and discussing it.