The Story of Jonas

Dahlberg, M. (2007). The story of jonas. (1st ed., p. 146). New York : Farrar Straus Giroux.


The Story of Jonas was a Mark Twain Award Nominee in 2009-2010 and is about 13 year old Jonas who is a slave in Missouri. Although he likes his master and hopes to one day become his personal slave, Jonas is sent with his master's son, Percy, to Kansas to dig for gold. Percy is very cruel and Jonas does not want to travel to Kansas with him. Jonas meets Miss Sky who teaches him to read and write. As Jonas learns more, he begins to understand freedom and dream of it. 

There is an Author's Note at the end of the book that briefly talks about the Gold Rush and which states were slave states. This book could be easily tied into a social studies class because of all the history the book brings up. Students could read this book when learning about slavery or the Gold Rush in social studies. Because it is set in Missouri and Kansas, state history of the two could be stressed. This book also stresses the importance of reading and writing which could be an important theme to stress to students. 

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