Journey Back to Freedom: The Olaudah Equiano Story
In 1756, an 11-year-old African boy is on guard in his village while his parents go to market. He spots slave traders who terrorise the area, snatching people to sell and runs into the fields with his sister. Despite their desperate attempts to flee, they are captured and separated, and so starts the ten-year journey of Olaudah Equiano, now a slave. The trials and tribulations of the real-life boy who becomes a man are the story of Catherine Johnson’s book.
Olaudah sails from what is present-day Nigeria to Barbados, America and the UK, in what were amazing journeys for those times, and is bought and sold by various masters, facing cruelty along the way. However, he is clever and survives by his wits, including buying and selling goods he picks up on his journeys. He earns enough money to buy himself freedom at twenty-one.
The story is based on Olaudah’s own biography and is written in the first person in simple language ideal for eight-year-olds and above, whom the book is aimed at. There are some instances of violence which might be difficult for younger readers, but the book is a searingly honest insight into a boy’s survival.
