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Five Things About Dragonflies
A fictional story about actual events in African American and Indigenous peoples’ history.
The underground railroad didn’t only run North, it also ran south to Spanish Florida. And out of that southern area came a young warrior on a quest to save her Black Seminole family.
Shortly after seeing curious smoke over the jungle, Talula finds her world’s peaceful existence breaking apart.
As the War of 1812 begins, changes are sweeping through Spanish Florida and are coming for ten-year-old Talula.
Slave hunters are capturing both freedmen and runaways and taking them back to Georgia plantations. But when the slave hunters arrived in Spanish Florida, they found something completely unexpected—flourishing villages and an alliance between the people they hunted and Seminole Indians. And a war they had no idea about was brewing.
Talula, a Black Seminole free girl, sets out to protect her family and her village and must convince others to help in the fight against the slave hunters. She is not just a girl on a horse, she is a warrior. Her story is one of survival and resilience.
The underground railroad didn’t only run North, it also ran south to Spanish Florida. And out of that southern area came a young warrior on a quest to save her Black Seminole family.
Shortly after seeing curious smoke over the jungle, Talula finds her world’s peaceful existence breaking apart.
As the War of 1812 begins, changes are sweeping through Spanish Florida and are coming for ten-year-old Talula.
Slave hunters are capturing both freedmen and runaways and taking them back to Georgia plantations. But when the slave hunters arrived in Spanish Florida, they found something completely unexpected—flourishing villages and an alliance between the people they hunted and Seminole Indians. And a war they had no idea about was brewing.
Talula, a Black Seminole free girl, sets out to protect her family and her village and must convince others to help in the fight against the slave hunters. She is not just a girl on a horse, she is a warrior. Her story is one of survival and resilience.
- GenresFiction
133 pages, Hardcover
Published February 26, 2022
11 people are currently reading
1461 people want to read
About the author
L.B. Anne
34 books148 followersWith over five hundred thousand pages read this year, L. B. Anne is consistently an Amazon best selling author. She writes children's and middle grade fiction, with her Sheena Meyer series a best seller in Christian science fiction/fantasy and several other categories.
Find out more at www.lbanne.com
Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlbanne
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlbanne
Read all the novels by L. B. Anne!
The Sheena Meyer Series:
1. The Girl Who Looked Beyond the Stars
2. The Girl Who Spoke to the Wind
3. The Girl Who Captured the Sun
4. The Girl Who Became A Warrior
5. City of Gleamers
6. Secret of Shadow and Light
7. May Your Vision Be True
8. Fate of the Gleam Keeper
The Everfall Series:
1. Before I Let Go
2. Before I Fall
The Lolo and Winkle Series:
1. Go Viral
2. Zombie Apocalypse Club
3. Frenemies
4. Break London
5. Middle School Misfit
6. The Complete Five Book Collection
The Curly Girl Adventures Series:
1. Pickled Pudding
2. Zuri the Great
3. Tangled
4. Top Knot
Brave New World:
1. Gemma Kaine: Sky Rider
Snicker's Wish: A Christmas Story
The Way to Storey
Children of the Glades Series:
Five Things About Dragonflies
Never Really Gone
What the Good Girl Knew
Gleamers Chronicle: Winter Shadows (A story in the Sheena Meyer series universe)
Find out more at www.lbanne.com
Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlbanne
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlbanne
Read all the novels by L. B. Anne!
The Sheena Meyer Series:
1. The Girl Who Looked Beyond the Stars
2. The Girl Who Spoke to the Wind
3. The Girl Who Captured the Sun
4. The Girl Who Became A Warrior
5. City of Gleamers
6. Secret of Shadow and Light
7. May Your Vision Be True
8. Fate of the Gleam Keeper
The Everfall Series:
1. Before I Let Go
2. Before I Fall
The Lolo and Winkle Series:
1. Go Viral
2. Zombie Apocalypse Club
3. Frenemies
4. Break London
5. Middle School Misfit
6. The Complete Five Book Collection
The Curly Girl Adventures Series:
1. Pickled Pudding
2. Zuri the Great
3. Tangled
4. Top Knot
Brave New World:
1. Gemma Kaine: Sky Rider
Snicker's Wish: A Christmas Story
The Way to Storey
Children of the Glades Series:
Five Things About Dragonflies
Never Really Gone
What the Good Girl Knew
Gleamers Chronicle: Winter Shadows (A story in the Sheena Meyer series universe)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 2, 2022
A fictional story set in real historical events, this author did a fantastic job talking about some really tough stuff in an engaging and appropriate way for kids. I learned a lot reading it myself. I highly recommend this for all kids and classrooms!
June 11, 2023
This young adult novel is a tale within a tale. Mia's parents bring Mia and her friend Paisley to a museum to learn about the history of museum about the Seminole Native Americans and the escaped black slave that joined them and became known as Black Seminoles. The exhibit showcases a film about one girl, Talula, who breaks gender norms to become a Seminole warrior.
The film shows slave hunters tracking and capturing escaped slaves, or free blacks, who they can sell back into slavery. They attack the Seminole villages, killing and kidnapping people and burning their houses. Together with Seminole warriors, the Black Seminoles counter-attack, rescuing the prisoners and fleeing further into the Florida swamps to hide and rebuild their villages.
Talula insists on accompanying the rescuers and helps free her father and others.
Following the film, the museum is hit with a tornado. Mia helps rescue her family from the rubble, showing herself a true descendant of the heroic Seminoles.
The film shows slave hunters tracking and capturing escaped slaves, or free blacks, who they can sell back into slavery. They attack the Seminole villages, killing and kidnapping people and burning their houses. Together with Seminole warriors, the Black Seminoles counter-attack, rescuing the prisoners and fleeing further into the Florida swamps to hide and rebuild their villages.
Talula insists on accompanying the rescuers and helps free her father and others.
Following the film, the museum is hit with a tornado. Mia helps rescue her family from the rubble, showing herself a true descendant of the heroic Seminoles.
May 18, 2024
Good read
This book held my attention from thr beginning to the end I’m looking forward to reading more from the author
This book held my attention from thr beginning to the end I’m looking forward to reading more from the author
August 4, 2023
The forward by Darlene Bell revels about the authors authority on African American and Indigenous people’s history and says she has written a tale that deeply explores a journey a cultural past through the eyes of a child.
A canoe made from a cypress tree, a painting of a black Seminole Warrior. The underground railroad didn’t only run North, it ran south to Spanish Florida.
The illustrations are substantially placed in the stories, and nicely done. There was a dramatic scene of a freed, former slave and a child being captured. Their family’s built chickees, where the top was thatched palmetto leaves, and the sides were open to the outside, and easy to tear down and put up. It didn’t protect them from the cold wind and blowing rain, but it provided some shelter.
I admired Talula’s tenacity, bravery, and curiosity, as well as Mia’s. The definitions at the end were also helpful as well as more to know about the historical characters within the story, as well as learning something about the culture and heritage of the people. The facts about the dragonflies were a cute side note that I learned about.
• Dragonflies are born underwater and live in the dark. When one first emerges, it appears colorless and transparent. But when sunlight hits its body, it becomes beautiful, colorful, and magical.
• Native Americans believed dragonflies were once dragons.
• Dragonflies lay their eggs in water, and when the larvae hatch, they live underwater for up to two years. Depending on the altitude and latitude, some species may stay in the larval state for up to six years. They'll molt up to seventeen times as they grow and get ready to head to the surface to transform into the dragonflies we see in the air.
A canoe made from a cypress tree, a painting of a black Seminole Warrior. The underground railroad didn’t only run North, it ran south to Spanish Florida.
The illustrations are substantially placed in the stories, and nicely done. There was a dramatic scene of a freed, former slave and a child being captured. Their family’s built chickees, where the top was thatched palmetto leaves, and the sides were open to the outside, and easy to tear down and put up. It didn’t protect them from the cold wind and blowing rain, but it provided some shelter.
I admired Talula’s tenacity, bravery, and curiosity, as well as Mia’s. The definitions at the end were also helpful as well as more to know about the historical characters within the story, as well as learning something about the culture and heritage of the people. The facts about the dragonflies were a cute side note that I learned about.
• Dragonflies are born underwater and live in the dark. When one first emerges, it appears colorless and transparent. But when sunlight hits its body, it becomes beautiful, colorful, and magical.
• Native Americans believed dragonflies were once dragons.
• Dragonflies lay their eggs in water, and when the larvae hatch, they live underwater for up to two years. Depending on the altitude and latitude, some species may stay in the larval state for up to six years. They'll molt up to seventeen times as they grow and get ready to head to the surface to transform into the dragonflies we see in the air.
April 27, 2022
Great educational book!
There is a lot to learn from this book and I honestly recommend everyone who has children ages 10 and older to check it out. It is always good to talk about our ancestors with our children but taking them to witness where their deep roots began is something special and one-of-a kind. I admired how the author did some intensive research to make this story interesting and enjoyable.
There is a lot to learn from this book and I honestly recommend everyone who has children ages 10 and older to check it out. It is always good to talk about our ancestors with our children but taking them to witness where their deep roots began is something special and one-of-a kind. I admired how the author did some intensive research to make this story interesting and enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews