Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781932425123)

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award

For young readers comes a poetic commemoration of the life of an 18th-century slave, from a past poet laureate and three-time National Book Award finalist

For over 200 years, the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut has housed a mysterious skeleton. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of an enslaved man named Fortune, who was owned by a local doctor. After Fortune's death, the doctor rendered the bones.

Further research revealed that Fortune had married, had fathered four children, and had been baptized later in life. His bones suggest that after a life of arduous labor, he died in 1798 at about the age of 60. The Manumission Requiem is Marilyn Nelson's poetic commemoration of Fortune's life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader's appreciation of the poem.

Author: Marilyn Nelson
ISBN-10: 1932425128
ISBN-13: 9781932425123
Publisher: Wordsong
Language: English
Published: 11/01/2004
Pages: 40
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 9.70h x 6.20w x 0.40d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.6
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 85474 / Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem

Award: Connecticut Book Awards - Nominee
Award: Coretta Scott King Award - Honor Book

Review Citation(s):
Multicultural Review 06/01/2005 pg. 105
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2005 pg. 162
School Library Journal 04/01/2005 pg. 57
Kirkus Review - Children 10/15/2004 pg. 1011
New York Times 11/14/2004 pg. 43
Kirkus Review - Children 12/01/2004 pg. 1145
Booklist 11/15/2004 pg. 573
Kirkus Best Books 12/15/2004 pg. 1
School Library Journal 12/01/2004 pg. 166
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 02/01/2005 pg. 259
ALA Notable Children's Books 02/15/2005 pg. 1022
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2005 pg. 153 - Superior,Well Above Average
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2005 pg. 105
ALA Best Books Young Adults 03/01/2006 pg. 6

About the Author
Marilyn Nelson is the author of The Freedom Business, Fortune's Bones, and Carver: A Life in Poems, among other titles. She is a National Book Award finalist, a Newbery Honor Book winner, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book award winner. She lives in East Haddam, Connecticut.