Freewater by: Amina Luqman-Dawson 2023 Newbery Winner A story about a family trying to run away to freedom, and finding it in a swamp, but getting separated and the children never giving up hope of finding their mama.
This book made me sad for many reasons. The story itself made me sad because no one should have to feel the way the characters in this book do. No one should ever be “owned” its just cruel. I know things like this book happened, and that will always upset me.
However it also made me sad that the way they solved the situation was with violence. I don’t like how common this theme is in books and movies. I get the whole wanting to beat the bad guys but I wish there was a better, less vengeful way of doing it. I felt the whole wedding scene near the end of the book was a bit overdone and made the book seem less realistic, (yes I am aware it’s fiction) but that is just my opinion. The book also felt guarded somehow, I don’t really know how to explain that feeling, just that some parts seemed overly edited.
I really did like the parts while they were in the swamp and learning how to survive and finally feeling a sense of freedom and belonging. And I felt the author was good at voicing children and making them be children and not just little adults like so many books try to do. I overall liked the book, and probably would have loved it as a kid, because I always did like a good runaway story.
Does someone die? Surprisingly no… at least not that I can recall which I think is one of the things that made me feel like it was guarded. (it took me a while to read it though so if someone did, I forget.)
