Imagine escaping from the terrors of plantation slavery, only to live for years in a swamp full of biting insects and deadly snakes. Picture yourself making a dangerous journey to freedom, guided by nothing but courage and the North Star. Think of beginning a new life in a new country, only to fall prey to bounty hunters.

The stories of the people who made up the Underground Railroad, that amazing network of quiet farm houses, peaceful country lanes, and busy city streets that reached from the slave-owning areas of the southern United States to the free states of the north and on to Canada, are among the most moving in our history.

Meet some of the men and women who planned daring and ingenious ways to escape slavery, such as the resourceful Henry Box Brown, who mailed himself to Philadelphia's Anti-Slavery Society in a box, and the strong-willed Harriet Tubman, who fled with nothing more than a scrap of bread and the clothes on her back, and then returned to the south year after year to help others find their way to freedom.

North Star to Freedom draws on the stories of the Underground Railroad's courageous passengers, whose extraordinary spirit broke their own chains, and the brave conductors, who risked their lives to help others simply because they believed that every person had the right to live free. More than just a book about the worst injustices of slavery, North Star to Freedom is ultimately about resourcefulness, compassion, and hope.

Period posters, photographs, and paintings help to make North Star to Freedom a living history for readers of all ages.

Gena Gorrell is a Fitzhenry and Whiteside author.

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