Message In The Sky

Corey's Underground Railroad Diary #3

by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

In the final book of Corey's Diary, Corey Birdsong and his family are living a full life in Canada, on their own farm, but they cannot forget about friends left behind, still in the grips of slavery.

In "Message in the Sky", Corey begins attending school, and his family, along with his friend, Mingo, are living well in Canada, where they've built their own farm. But, the Birdsongs cannot let go of the memories of their friends left behind in America. Corey and Mingo hatch a plan to help Aunt Queen, Mingo's adopted mother, escape, but Corey's parents forbid it, and start saving money to buy her freedom, instead. However, when Corey accidentally ends up on the American side of the Ohio River, he finds himself a conductor on the Underground Railroad!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Diary, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Canada, Historical

112 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Similarly to the previous book, Corey does something foolish and does not receive a consequence. Canada is portrayed a bit unrealistically and instead of Ontario, it should be using Canada West. This book felt particularly short.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely quick read. Don't think it even took me an hour. I was glad everything came full circle. This honestly I think was my favorite book of the whole series.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Sharon Dennis Wyeth is one of three based on the character and his life and is part of the My America series. Message in the sky is about a young boy named, Corey. Corey and his family fled to Canada in hope of freedom. Now, Corey family built their own home on their own farmland and he would be starting school soon. But when Corey hatches a plan to help his friend, he is pulled into a thrilling, crazy, wild life. The Mr. Jenkins and his two sons along with this wife and daughter fled to freedom, but Mrs. Jenkins and her daughter were captured before making out of the south now Mr. Jenkins alone with his two sons, Just and Jim. Corey starts helping out on the underground Railroad/boating once a week and during this time, Corey takes Just and Jim(birds he named after the Jenkins kids) out farther and farther each trip letting them go, testing their abilities to find their way home alone. On one trip Corey runs into a girl named Glady, and her mother. Later, on the trip back home he finds out Glady and her mother is Mr. Jenkins wife and daughter. They arrive safely in Canada and find that Just and Jim made it safely to Candida many weeks earlier. Unfortunately, several weeks after the arriving in Candida Mrs. Jenkins died of an illness.

I really enjoyed this book. It was written like a journal and was based on real events, but fictional in the fact that it was not written about real people. I enjoyed reading and would recommend this book you early readers to get them interested in history, but adults and young adults might find it mundane because it was the book is so general. This would be recommended for readers between the ages of 8 and 13 dependent on their personal reading level.

[Brandy Gilbertson]

Nice to introduce easy chapter book series to children. They are written as journals each dated and entries are very short. The print is large and very easy to read. The sentences are very simple. This is an easy way for children to learn about the Underground Railroad and significant information about this time period.

*Book from text

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good use of historical details in a fictional format.

[Patrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's fascinating to see the underground railroad through a child's eyes.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a moment or two of having to suspend the believability of how the story played out but I did like reading more about Corey.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great but I made the mistake of reading this book before the other ones so I would read this series but read them in order. Other than that it was great.

[Dalton Dettbarn]

This is a good book about the Underground Railroad.

[Nathaniel]

good fast paced book good story line