Race for Freedom (27 page)

The Freedom Seekers series also offers tools for teaching topics that help our growth as individuals. Libby, Captain Norstad, Caleb, Jordan, and their friends face questions that are still crucial today:

• Who can I trust?

• What do I
really
care about?

• What does it mean to be a never-give-up family?

• How can I live my belief in the freedoms established by our founding fathers? Especially see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, Amendment 1, and also Amendments 13, 14, and 15.

• In what ways do I need to recognize the Lord’s leading in both daily and life-or-death situations?

• What practical skills should I develop?

• Why do I need to put my faith in God?

• How can I live with biblical principles and values?

• How can I make choices based on those principles and values?

• And how can I encourage others to do the same?

   The Freedom Seekers series weaves together fictional characters with carefully researched people who lived or were known in 1857. Each novel stands alone but is best read in sequence to see the growth of characters and relationships. A new character, Peter, who is deaf, joins the
Christina
family in the fourth book.

Prepare students for reading each novel by talking about the cover. With
Race for Freedom
you might want to ask, “Who are the characters? Can you guess what Libby has been doing? Why do you think Caleb is looking around? What do you suppose Jordan is thinking?”

Then encourage your students to just enjoy reading the story. If needed, they can take random notes to help them find details for later use, but ask them to wait with answering questions or doing activities. After reading a book through, students can return to it and glean added information to answer study questions or do other activities.

Each study guide gives you the ability to move through the questions and activities at a pace that is right for your students. Topics are organized in sections such as talking about the story, making choices, being a never-give-up family, following God’s leading, discussing ideas about freedom, ideas for writen or oral responses, and a digging deeper section for students who want to study further.

Your own love of reading may be one of your strongest motivators for encouraging others to read. That love and the discernment that follows will become an important gift you offer the children and young people you influence.

Whether you read these novels aloud, as a group, or your students read them individually, I hope that all of you enjoy them. May each of you also be blessed by growing deeper in your walk as a Freedom Seeker.

FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

L
IBBY NORSTAD:
Tall and slender with brown eyes like her mother, Libby is thirteen years old, soon to turn fourteen. She is just one inch shorter than Caleb, who is not short. People like Pa say Libby’s hair is auburn—deep red with gold highlights. But the boys who tease Libby say it’s red. Red. Red. With her father and good friends surrounding her on board the
Christina
, Libby is well cared for, but always manages to stumble into danger. Maybe it’s curiosity that gets her into trouble. Somehow she seems to discover more than many people see. And every once in awhile she thinks,
I didn’t know that being a never-give-up family could be so hard
.

CAPTAIN NATHANIEL NORSTAD:
As captain and owner of the steamboat
Christina
, Nathaniel Norstad stands tall against the thieves, swindlers, and other threats that would hurt his passengers. He also has a caring heart. When Libby said, “I want a never-give-up family—a family that sticks together, even thought it’s hard,” he answered, “We can be that family for each other. And Caleb and the other people who work on the
Christina
will be our larger family.” In what we now call homeschooling, Captain Norstad teaches Libby and Caleb, then Jordan and Elsa. As Caleb tells Libby, “Your Pa makes learning fun.”

CALEB WHITNEY:
At fourteen, almost fifteen years old, Caleb is Pa’s cabin boy on the
Christina
. With a deep concern for what happens to runaway slaves, Caleb has worked as an Underground Railroad conductor since he was nine years old. He is not only good at hiding his feelings from cruel slave catchers who question him, he won’t answer Libby’s questions unless he’s ready to trust her. Caleb thinks quickly, plans ahead, and figures out a way to do something. His dream is to become a newspaper editor.

RACHEL WHITNEY:
A widow and the chief pastry cook on the
Christina
, Gran has taken care of Caleb since the death of his parents. Like Caleb, she understands danger and knows that Caleb’s concern for runaway slaves grows out of her own beliefs. Gran’s soft heart leads her to supply food whenever Caleb or Libby find someone in need.

JORDAN PARKER:
Born into slavery, Jordan doesn’t know his birthday, nor his exact age. He wants his birthday to be the day he knows his daddy is free. About fifteen or sixteen years old, Jordan fights for his freedom with the help of his friends on the
Christina
. Physically strong and gifted in knowing how to survive, Jordan is both a singer and a good mechanic. Out of his strong Christian walk and forgiving spirit, he hears the Lord’s leading extraordinarily well. Jordan has a father, Micah, a mother, Hattie, and three siblings—Serena, Zack, and Rose, who are eleven, eight, and three.

ELSA MEYER:
Libby’s friend and a German immigrant who lives on deck with her parents.

HERR MEYER:
Becca’s father, one of a group of men who strikes out for Red Wing when Lake Pepin remains closed with ice. The family settles at Hay Creek, near Red Wing, Minnesota.

FRAU MEYER:
Becca’s mother.

AUNTIE VI THORNTON:
A sister of Libby’s mother, but very unlike her. Vi took care of Libby from when her mother died until she was thirteen and came to live with her father.

UNCLE ALEXANDER THORNTON:
Husband of Vi and a wealthy businessman in Chicago.

MR. BATES:
First mate of the
Christina
. Do we need to suspect him for an important reason?

OSBORNE:
Chief engineer on the
Christina
, Osborne is kind, welcoming, and a helpful person to know.

FLETCHER:
Pilot for the steamboat
Christina
.

MARTIN:
A young mud clerk so labeled because he stands in the mud along the levee to collect fares.

MR. RIGGS:
A relentless slave trader who carries a cane with a gold head—a cane that is
not
needed for walking. Riggs is
always
frowning and
always
on the hunt for escaped slaves. He is Jordan’s owner and the cruelest man Libby has ever encountered.

DR. HUTTON:
Hutton has a salt-and-pepper beard, better known as a gray and white beard. Above that, his cheeks are ruddy, better known as reddish in color. Dr. Hutton looks over glasses perched halfway down his nose. Do you suppose he’s
really
intelligent? Or at least as smart as he looks?

SLAVE CATCHERS:
You’ll have to guess about these men. First you’ll see them in Keokuk, and Lois doesn’t honor them with names. But one is blond, and the other has light brown hair. And what could possibly happen if they become passengers on the
Christina
? Do you think they’ll mean big trouble for Jordan?

SAMSON:
Libby’s dog, a Newfoundland, now often called a Newfie. Samson is housebroken, but frisky when Libby gets him. He has a black coat with white patches on his nose, muzzle, chest, and tips of his toes. And Libby needs to learn how to take care of him!

HISTORIC CHARACTERS

This series is a place where you can bump into all kinds of famous people…
.

HARRIET TUBMAN:
Why do you think her people called her Moses?

DRED SCOTT:
Had lived in a free territory and the free state of Minnesota. Based on that, he asked for his freedom. But the Supreme Court ruled that because he’s a slave, he’s not a citizen of the United States. Why did the Court say that Dred Scott had never been free? Why is Captain Norstad so upset about the Supreme Court decision named after Dred Scott?

ELIJAH LOVEJOY:
Editor of the
Observer
, a newspaper published in Alton, Illinois, Elijah Lovejoy lived, wrote, and died for the freedom of slaves. He is Caleb’s hero. Because of his courageous anti-slavery stand, Rev. Lovejoy is known as the first American martyr for freedom of the press.

ORION CLEMENS:
The owner of a printing shop in Keokuk, Iowa. Take a guess. Who was his closest relative?

SAMUEL CLEMENS:
Mark Twain. Yup! The author.

CAPTAIN W. H. LAUGHTON:
Captain of the
Galena
, who won the 1857 race to St. Paul.

PILOT STEPHEN HANKS:
Pilot of the
Galena
and a first cousin to Abraham Lincoln.

CAPTAIN KINGMAN:
Captain of the
War Eagle
, he came in second in the 1857 race to St. Paul. In a time when many captains would not stop for a man overboard, Captain Kingman lost the race because he stopped to pick up a deckhand.

CAPTAIN DANIEL SMITH HARRIS:
Captain of the
Grey Eagle
, he was one of most famous captains of the time. Prior to 1857, he won four races up the Mississippi River to St. Paul. His career ended when the
Grey Eagle
was wrecked on the Rock Island Bridge in 1861.

THE STEAMBOAT
CHRISTINA
:
Named after Captain Norstad’s wife and Libby’s mother. Except for the sidewheeler
Christina
, every boat in this series is historical.

D
o you have times when you desperately want to win something?

Everyone loves a winner, and the stakes for the 1857 race were high. All winter long, the people of St. Paul had waited for the first steamboat to bring passengers, supplies, and news from the outside world. The first captain who passed through Lake Pepin to reach St. Paul and open the shipping season would be a hero. He would receive both honors and a sizable reward—free use of the St. Paul wharf throughout the season.

History tells us that the
Galena
was the winner, but I vote for the
War Eagle
. In a time when not all steamboat captains stopped for a person who fell overboard, Captain Kingman’s choice to put out a yawl was unusual. His act of mercy probably cost him the race, for the
War Eagle
came in second, just fifteen minutes after the
Galena
. Yet even now, more than a century and a half later, we know that Captain Kingman cared more about one man’s life than about personal wealth and honor.