African Town
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Inspired by the true story of the last American slave ship, African Town is an epic novel in verse told from multiple first-person points of view, each one written in a different verse form. The story begins in 1860 when Timothy Meaher, a wealthy Alabama riverboat captain, makes a $1,000 wager that he can illegally smuggle a ship's worth of enslaved workers back to Mobile without the authorities' knowledge. The action then moves to the West African kingdom of Dahomey, where readers meet 19-year-old Kossola, the story's protagonist, who will become one of 110 Africans kidnapped and sold to Meaher's representative. After a hideously arduous 40-day voyage aboard the ship Clotilda, the Africans arrive clandestinely in Alabama, where they are sold into slavery. The novel then follows the intertwined lives of Kossola and some half-dozen others, all of whom were "passengers" on the Clotilda. Readers see them gain their freedom and obsessively save their money until they can buy multiple plots of land adjacent to one another, thereby founding African Town in the early 1870s. This is by no means the end of the story, which goes on to chart the fully realized lives of its characters until 1901. African Town is a compelling novel that doubles as an important historic document, invaluable for both classroom use and independent reading.

Based on historical events and set between 1859 and 1901, Latham (D-39: A Robodog's Journey) and Waters (Dictionary for a Better World) pen an ambitious verse novel told in many voices. In spite of laws forbidding further importation of enslaved peoples into the United States, Timothy Meaher, owner of a shipping business, wagers $1,000 that he can smuggle "a good number" of enslaved people across the Atlantic and into Mobile, Ala., without being caught. As a result, Capt. William Foster sails the Clotilda to the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1860, buying 110 people from the nephew of Dahomey's king. Alternating among 14 voices, including that of the Clotilda, this novelization chronicles the journey of the 110 enslaved people across the Middle Passage and their subsequent lives, including a dream of returning home to Africa and, eventually, the establishment of free African Town, "a town far enough from Mobile that it feels/ like de center of the world, but also separate/ from de world." Though the myriad narrative voices can sound indistinct, the authors employ a range of poetic forms, resulting in an insightful, quickly paced telling that centers tradition and resilience. Abundant back matter includes an authors' note, glossary, timeline, list of poetry forms/styles employed, and more. Ages 12--up. Agent (for Latham and Waters): Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Agency. (Jan.)

A fictionalized account of the last slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States. Despite the U.S. ban on the importation of enslaved labor, plantation owner Timothy Meaher bet that he could bring in a shipload of Africans. In 1860, a ship called the Clotilda, under the leadership of Capt. William Foster, sailed from Mobile, Alabama, to the kingdom of Dahomey. There, Foster purchased 110 people--including a 2-year-old girl--who had been captured by the king's soldiers. Fourteen voices, including that of the ship, tell the tale of that journey across the Middle Passage and the years following their enslavement, first in the Alabama swamps, then on plantations, and finally in the free settlement of African Town (later renamed Africatown). The highly personal stories in verse reveal the different aspects of this illegal trade and the impact on both the Black enslaved people and the White crew members. Most well known is Kossola, who was long thought to be the last known survivor of the Atlantic slave trade. Latham and Waters use a different poetic form for each narrator, giving each a distinct personality. The Africans' attempts to hold true to their home cultures and traditions--most were Yoruba--as they try to adapt to their new reality come across most powerfully. Enhanced by rich backmatter, this is a strong addition to literature about slavery. (map, authors' note, characters, Africatown today, timeline, glossary, poetry forms/styles, resources) (Verse novel. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Fourteen voices (each embodying a specific poetic form!)—enlivened by 14 performers—take turns bearing witness in this novel in verse. Perspectives shift among the enslavers, the enablers to such inhumanity, their victims, and their descendants, revealing decades from capture to post-Civil War freedom to the founding of African Town by survivors of the ship Clotilda. Despite such a stellar full cast, the immediate reaction at recording's end couldn't be more diametric: gratitude for who-read-whom acknowledgment (far too rare) overshadowed by disappointment (far too common, alas) over why producers don't prioritize consistency. Between narrators and chapters, pronunciation seems especially challenging (Kêhounco, Kossola, and Cudjo all vary, and characters can become unrecognizable depending on who's narrating). And yet overall, Waters and Latham's superb verse epic is an illuminating and necessary record of the Clotilda, a ship on which 110 kidnapped African people were transported to be enslaved in Alabama in 1860—52 years after the U.S. ban on human importation—as the result of a wager between boastful, entitled white men. Waters and Latham also append extensive backmatter (available as a PDF download) for further enlightenment. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.