CHAINS
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Simon & Schuster, 2008
Category: Middle grade historical fiction
When I am older and my kids are grown and I think back on my parenting, I will surely cherish memories of our time reading together. At the very fore of these memories will be the winter vacation when we sat together and read CHAINS. We finished the book days ago, and still the four of us are talking about Isabel and Mistress Lockton and the twin cruelties of slavery and war.
Some might argue this book is too intense for a family read-aloud, particularly for families with younger children. They might be right. The kids were introduced to a dangerous and terrible time in our nation’s history, and they did witness atrocities of injustice. But … they experienced these things with me, in our living room, snuggled up together on the couch. They were safe and warm and free to contemplate the darker sides of humanity with Mom at their side. If they are going to experience these things—and I believe they must in order to be sure that we, as a society, don’t repeat the mistakes of our past—then I’d rather have them experience them with me in the living room than alone in the world outside our front door.
CHAINS may not be the perfect read-aloud for every family, but it was the perfect one for us. Thank you, Laurie Halse Anderson, for giving us this unforgettable story to share.