Running Out of Night

Gr 4–7—When Zenobia, a fugitive slave, creeps onto the porch of an 1858 Virginia home, the white girl inside schemes to prevent her abusive father from spotting the escapee. Denied a name and mistreated by her motherless family, the girl quickly concludes that her circumstances look little better than plucky Zenobia's and the two resolve to flee together. Neither one has a route planned; still, equipped with determination, good-luck charms, and a prodigious amount of plot-finagling by Lovejoy, they continually elude the passel of slave catchers and incensed family members chasing them. Narrator Lark (her new friend gifts her the name) and Zenobia, joined by an older teen slave, aim for the Quaker town of Waterford, where Lark believes folks will aid in their escape. Throughout the somewhat haltingly paced tribulations they encounter—the town proves vulnerable to the one-dimensional villains trailing the group and illness or injury strikes all three—Lark displays a charming resolve to survive as a trio, an attitude most audiences will find winning, if unlikely and possibly ill-advised. The rural, mid-19th-century dialect, coupled with the author's interest in ethnobotany, roots the story deeply in the houses, forests, gardens, and even streambeds of antebellum Virginia; Lark's knowledge of plants allows for a satisfying, flora-induced revenge on one slave runner. Unfortunately, a contrived showdown tidies away the rest of the menacing trackers and the abrupt ending feels a mite cheery for the reality of a poor, newly orphaned girl and two fugitive slaves who haven't even made it out of Virginia. Some readers will suspend their disbelief, however, to enjoy the triumph of these intrepid souls.—Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NY