Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs

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Summary: Letters from a slave girl is a horrific book
Review: "Letters from a Slave Girl of Harriet Jacobs" by Mary E.Lyons is a historical fiction book. Harriet Jacobs writes journal entries about her life of being a slave. I don't admire the format of the book at all. It as eries of entries written to people such as her mother. Also the black dialect of the book has a black dialect and it gets old after a while. The book is based on true events.
The book is basically about Harriet, a slave girl whose mother is dead and since her mistress dies she is sent to live with the Norcoms. The family does not like her and Dr.Norcom threatens her in many ways. Later on Harriet's father dies and she meets a boy reffered to as "r". The relationship does not last long, he is freed to the north. Since r is gone Harriet has an affair with Samuel Sawyer; a white man whom Harriet has two children with.
Harriet runns away soon after she has her children and stays hidden for seven years. Soon Harriet became free and the story is pretty much history after that. I did not enjoy reading this book because it was boting and drawn out!

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Summary: Book of year
Review: "Letters from a slave girl the Story Of Harriet Jacobs" By Mary E. Lyons

This book is a good book if you like stories with happy endings and a girl who goes on a journey for freedom. Harriet must go through seven years of physically demanding conditions. Harriet was born a slave, and her mama died when she was only a little girl. She was only a little girl when she finally learned to read and write. This book is filled with interesting characters like, Dr. Norcome, a slave owner that treated his slaves like dogs, wanting to do everything for him. His wife did not approve that her husband wanted to sleep with his slaves. Harriet tries to protect herself by sleeping with other white men. This story is appropriate for kids over the age of 12. This is because of some PG 13 contents. Also the slave owners are not exactly fair to their slaves in other ways then by work but overall this was a good book for all most all ages. I highly recommend this book to almost any one.

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Summary: You wont want to put it down
Review: "Letters from a slave girl the story of Harriet Jacobs", by Mary E. Lyons is a good book if you like reading about slavery and what certain people did to escape. The main character of this story was Harriet Jacobs. Harriet's parents died when she was at a young age. She lived in North Carolina with her grandmother and brother. Harriet expresses her feelings through letters that she kept in her journal. Harriet slept with a white man, to protect herself from her slave owner. She then went in hiding for seven years to protect her two children from working on the plantation. There is not much suspense in this book, but when there is, you will not want to put the book down. You should read this book, and find out what happens to Harriet.

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Summary: A Glimpse of the Past
Review: "Letters from a slave girl the story of Harriet Jacobs", by Mary E. Lyons, is a great book to read individually or as a class. This book tells a story of a slave girl who lived on a plantation in North Carolina. She writes to her different family members, in a letter format, but kept them all in a journal. She describes the hardships of losing a mother and a father, and other close friends and family, because of slave trading, and other difficulties that slaves encounter. She describes all that she goes through to protect herself, and her family. An example of this is when she has to sleep with white man. She does this to protect herself from her slave owner. Mary Lyons does a wonderful job using a black dialect to make it seem like an authentic dairy from a slave. The story plot is very interesting. It makes you want continue on reading to find out what happens to Harriet next. This book gives you a glimpse of the past. "Letters from a slave girl the story of Harriet Jacob" is a great book and reading it can be an adventure!

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Summary: Not a great book reviewed by a MLMS student
Review: "Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs" by Mary E. Lyons is a book with some strengths and many weaknesses. At the opening of the book, Harriet Jacobs is a slave in North Carolina living with her mistress, Margaret Horniblow. The book captures the life of this true person, through a series of historical fiction letters. She has the dream of slavery and must live with the harsh realities of her life.
Throughout the book, the author uses a southern black dialect and the spelling patterns of someone without proper schooling, in the letters Harriet writes. This aspect of the book shows her creativity, but can also be very annoying. For instance, on page 6 the book says, "I dont know I been a Slave till I was six, say I". Grammar and spelling like this makes the book harder to read and much less enjoyable. You are constantly trying to figure out exactly what she is saying. After many years of being taught to use correct grammar, this book contradicts everything I have learned.
If you enjoy learning about slavery you may like this book. It shows many aspects of the life that a slave woman might face. For example, the sexual aspect of slave masters is brought to life, and this is not often discussed. There is information about the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and how it affected the lives of escaped slaves in the north. It also shows the feelings of a slave dreaming of freedom.
Another weakness of the book was it's predictability. Throughout the book you could guess what was going to happen which made the book very boring! It was slow moving and not much happened in many of the letters. Every time I opened the book I dreaded how much of a bore it was going to be. I think "Letters From a Slave Girl" could have been much more exciting.
I think the format of the book was a good choice. With Harriet telling her own story through letters, you could relate more to her. She could tell you her feelings and make you consider what you would feel in her position. The letters made the book more personal.
The final reason I didn't enjoy this book was how depressing it was. Even at the start of the book her mother is dead and not far into it her father dies, too. Event after event is sad, which makes the book not much fun to read. You just start to wonder what sad thing will happen next.
"Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs" is not a great book. Only if you really like learning about slavery should you read it. I didn't really enjoy it, and I don't believe the average middle school student will either.

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Summary: A great book on a young slave
Review: "Letters from a Slave Girl" is one of the best books I've read on slavery! It tells the story of Harriet Jacobs, written in letter form to her deceased relatives - similar to a diary. She tells her life over the years, as a slave, being harassed by her master, escaping, and being hidden. It's very realistic and interesting, as well as very emotional, with both good and bad times.

I'd recommend this book for ages 11 and up, and I'd also recommend "A Wolf by the Ears", "A Picture of Freedom", and "I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly", which are other great books on slavery.

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Summary: A very historic book
Review: Harriet Jacobs of the book "Letters from a Slave Girl, The Story of Harriet Jacobs" reveals the life of an average slave girl living in the early 1800's. "Letters of a Slave Girl" is about the life of Harriet Jacobs, as she strives for freedom. Harriet's first master, Miss Margaret Hornblow, teaches her literacy, or the ability to read or write. As a slave, it is illegal to know this, so when Harriet's first master dies, she has to conceal her abilities.

Harriet's brother, John, is a courageous boy that has a wild dream of freedom. He sticks with Harriet and backs up her decisions.

Altogether, this book is ok, although it does have some slow parts. The morals of this book go in deep, so a lot of the time you find yourself backtracking to find a small sentence that explains a lot. The rest of the time you are thinking about what was just said, because of just how deep the story goes.

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Summary: The best book written about that era.
Review: I liked this book because it has a good story line and great characters. The author makes it very realistic and practical. It keeps you at the edge of your seat for the whole book. It is a great book for all ages.

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Summary: A clear picture of slavery
Review: I never had a clearer picture of slavery until I read this book.The Author's Note at the end was fascinating. I found that Lyons based the fictional Harriet's grammar and spelling on the real Harriet's letters, written twenty to thirty years after she escaped. Lyons also used real ex-slave narratives collected in North Carolina in the 1930's by the Works Project Administration. Did some of these former slaves speak in dialect? Yup. Some spoke standard English, too. Just like today, Southern speech has many voices, and that's what makes it interesting. Finally, readers of the Author's Note will discover that when the real Harriet wrote her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she, too, invented dialogue with dialect.
Have you ever noticed how Southern speech, both black and white, is often mocked in print, television, and movies? This is a quick and dirty way for the media to suggest stupidity. Without even realizing it, viewers might absorb the message that Southerners, especially African Americans, are inferior. But that message is flat-out wrong. Southern speech is loaded with metaphor, imagery, humor, and wisdom. That's why many people enjoy reading literature set in the South. So if you are one of them, read Letters from a Slave Girl! It's about as close as you can get to an authentic Southern black voice from 19th century coastal North Carolina.

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Summary: letters from a slave girl.
Review: I think that "letters from a slave girl," was great. There were many sad parts that brought tears to my eyes. It was sad when Miss. Margaret Horniblow dies. The story "Letters from a slave girl," was not the best story that I ever read, but it was pretty good. I liked the part were harriet excaped slavery.and headed to the northern states. I liked the way Mary E. Lyons (she'sthe auther.)wrote the story in letter form it made the story more exciting.