Picture This: The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery

The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery by Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradon, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

In 1856, two slaves named John and Frank escaped their master in Kentucky and fled to the north. They arrived in Oberlin, a town that lived by a "higher law" than the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed slave owners to capture their fugitive slaves anywhere in the nation. Slave hunters came looking for John, and with the help of a young boy, they captured him. When the people of Oberlin found out what happened, they gathered to rescue John and protest his capture.

This is an incredible true story. The people of Oberlin rescued John by force and hid him, allowing him to disappear into the night. The rescuers--thirty-seven of them--were tried in court for breaking the law, found guilty and sentenced to three months in prison. Eric Velasquez's dramatic illustrations often unfold like scenes from a film. A particular highlight is the nighttime scenes featuring with beautiful play between light and blue-toned shadows. At the end is a photograph of the thirty-seven convicted rescuers in the jail courtyard.