YA review: Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

15 year old Amari is, when we first meet her, in her Ashanti village in Africa.  She watches as her village offers gifts to strange white people, then sees those same people murder her family and most of her fellow villagers.  Those who aren't murdered are chained and marched to the coast, then loaded onto slave ships.  We watch Ashanti's struggles as she is shipped to the American Colonies and purchased by a plantation owner for his 16 year old son's sexual pleasure.  Draper uses the fictitious characters to show what life as a slave was like, even showing us the terror of a five year-old slave as white teenagers (sons of plantation owners) use him as bait while alligator hunting.  Amari and a caucasian indentured slave, Polly, make a break for freedom, knowing that their chances of survival are slim, but they choose death while free over life as slaves.  All but a couple white characters are evil (except Percival Derby's wife, who had an affair and child with the black butler, the doctor who sets up the escape, and an Irish woman who provides a horse and cart).  This is a tale of the human spirit in extreme circumstances, and gives a glimpse of the history of the era.  For instance, I didn't know that Florida, under Spanish rule, was opposed to slavery and offered a safe haven to escaped slaves.  At times the narrative feels a little forced, but overall this is a fantastic book and Draper has crafted a winning historical novel.  I have been recommending this book to my high school students for several years, and it was a Gateway Readers Award Nominee in Missouri.