Everything you need to understand or teach Ajeemah and His Son by James Berry.
Ajeemah and His Son is an account of the kidnapping and enslavement of two Africans from Ghana, Ajeemah and his son Atu. The novella begins with an ironic tone: "That wiping out of Atu and Sisi's wedding was always going to be one of the painful happenings." This ironic reference to the wedding that was not to be echoes with increasing power throughout the narrative. Atu, a teenager at the begin ning of his hopeful life, is kidnaped as he and his father walk to deliver the husband's dowry to the family of his wife to be. It is a playful time; Ajeemah, a practical joker, has hidden two gold pieces in his sandals, and he hopes to at first appear empty handed before the bride's family and then to surprise them by suddenly producing the gold pieces. This happy opening to the novella is cruelly subverted by...