The Ever-after Bird

by Rinaldi, Ann

• ISBN13: 9780152026202
• ISBN10: 0152026207
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-01
• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books

Summary

Now that her father is dead, CeCe McGill is left to wonder why he risked his life for the ragged slaves who came to their door in the dead of night. When her uncle, an ornithologist, insists she accompany him to Georgia on an expedition in search of the rare scarlet ibis, CeCe is surprised to learn there's a second reason for their journey: Along the way, Uncle Alex secretly points slaves north in the direction of the Underground Railroad. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous pre-Civil War South, The Ever-After Birdis the story of a young woman's education about the horrors of slavery and the realization about the kind of person she wants to become.

Author Biography

ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. She lives in central New Jersey.

Excerpts

Chapter OneI try not to think of that morning in May of this year of 1851. It is muddled in my brain anyway, maybe because I choose to leave it muddled. I did not see it all, I tell myself. I was upstairs in my room in our rambling white farmhouse, sent upstairs by Papa because I sassed Aunt Susan Elizabeth. She was Papas aunt, getting on in years and in grouchiness. She drove me to distraction and I would have given anything to be away from her, from that house, yes, even from Papa, who had few words of cheerfulness for me since the day I was born and fewer yet since hed become involved with his abolitionist doings, which seemed like forever now. He went about those doings with an obsession. There was always a quilt on the front wooden fence to show we were a safe house for runaways. I know because I put them there for Aunt Susan Elizabeth. We had five of those quilts, and the ones on the fence were constantly changed. The quilts said things. Each one had a different message. What, I dont know because I could never quite learn the differences. It had to do with the square knots left visible on the front, which Aunt Susan Elizabeth said was usually the sign of shoddy workmanship. But not with these quilts. These square knots were left on the front on purpose. The quilts each had a set number of square knots. She must have explained to me a dozen times the many things those knots meant. But I never got it. Which made her call me dense. I hated those quilts because I was always having to work on one. That morning I was working on a wagon wheel pattern, which Aunt Susan Elizabeth said signaled the slaves to pack everything that would go into a wagon or that could be used in transit. Why cant they just be told? I asked her. It wasnt so much the words I said as how I said them. Thats when Papa sent me to my room. No soul, he said to me, youve got no soul. For this your mother gave her life when you were born. No soul. Hed been saying a lot of things like that to me lately, because I refused to get involved with his abolitionist doings. I couldnt understand him risking his life for all those negroes who came to our door in the middle of the night looking like something the cat dragged in. Two nights before hed taken in two runaways from the Harris plantation in Buckstown, Maryland, a state part slave and part free. Theyd had enough of old Mr. Josiah Harriss cruelty. We live in the small town of Christiana, Pennsylvania, on the Maryland border. My name is Cecelia McGill. Papas name is John. Runaway negroes know were a station on the Underground Railroad. It was a bright morning, about ten oclock. I was sitting on my bed, wondering how long Id have to stay there, when I heard horses ride up. I went to look out the window. It was Mr. Harris and he had his two mangy sons with him. I pushed the window open so I could hear. Harris was waving around a paper, which apparently was some kind of a writ. Sign

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Excerpted from The Ever-After Bird by Ann Rinaldi
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