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46 pages

English

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Sometimes, an intolerable situation calls for a drastic measure-fleeing for freedom. Whether you're a slave seeking freedom in the North or a convict swimming for your life in a shark-infested canal, the urge to be free drives your every move. In Great Escapes: Real Tales of Harrowing Getaways, readers ages 9 to 12 meet five ingenious fugitives and freedom seekers who all shared one common goal: escape. The human spirit craves freedom, and when liberty is taken away, people go to great lengths to get it back. Great Escapes: Real Tales of Harrowing Getaways tells the histories of five ingenious departures, including the one perpetuated by William and Ellen Craft, who donned disguises and made a 1,000-mile run for freedom. Another man, Douglas Mawson, battled a power greater than any human villain, when in 1913, Mother Nature trapped Mawson in her icy Antarctic jaws. Alone and dangling over a bottomless crevasse by a fraying rope, the only escape tools Mawson had were his strength and determination. In 1943, Nazi guards packed hundreds of Belgian Jews into train cars and headed for the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Twelve-year-old Simon Gronowski was among these deportees, and he was determined to find a way off the moving train before it reached its ghastly destination. Alcatraz was a rocky fortress designed to hold federal prisoners until the end of their sentence or death, whichever came first. Prison officials claimed the Rock was inescapable. But in 1962, three inmates vanished, never to be seen again. No less amazing is the escape of 57 East Germans from communist-controlled East Germany during the Cold War, through a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. History is ripe with examples of people desperate to escape the traps in which they are snared. Get an up-close look at the guts, skill, determination, and luck of remarkable escape artists in Great Escapes: Real Stories of Harrowing Getaways. This is the sixth book in a series called Mystery & Mayhem, which features true tales that whet kids' appetites for history by engaging them in genres with proven track records-mystery and adventure. History is made of near misses, unexplained disappearances, unsolved mysteries, and bizarre events that are almost too weird to be true-almost! The Mystery and Mayhem series delves into these tidbits of history to provide kids with a jumping off point into a lifelong habit of appreciating history. Each of the five true tales told within Great Escapes are paired with further fun facts about the setting, industry, and time period. A glossary and resources page provide the opportunity to practice using essential academic tools. These nonfiction narratives use clear, concise language with compelling plots that both avid and reluctant readers will be drawn to.

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Children's

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Publié par	Nomad Press
Date de parution	15 août 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781619306141
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Nomad Press
A division of Nomad Communications
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright 2017 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or for limited educational use . The trademark Nomad Press and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.
ISBN Softcover: 978-1-61930-616-5
ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-61930-612-7
Educational Consultant, Marla Conn
Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to
Nomad Press
2456 Christian St.
White River Junction, VT 05001
www.nomadpress.net
Contents
Introduction
Run for Your Life
Chapter One
A Thousand Miles
Facing lifelong separation, William and Ellen Craft fled north in disguise, risking detection at every turn, all for the sake of freedom from slavery.
Chapter Two
The Jaws of Terra Incognita
Douglas Mawson battled a power greater than any human villain when Mother Nature trapped him in her icy Antarctic jaws with only his strength and determination to save him.
Chapter Three
Death Train
In 1943, Nazi guards packed hundreds of Belgian Jews into train cars headed for Auschwitz. Simon Gronowski, 11 years old, was determined to escape.
Chapter Four
Breaking the Rock
Three inmates vanished from the prison of Alcatraz in 1962, never to be seen again. How did they escape? Where are they now?
Chapter Five
Tunnel 29
During the Cold War, 29 Germans from communist-controlled East Germany, where freedom was a dream, escaped through a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
Glossary Resources
Titles in the Mystery Mayhem Series

Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net
Introduction
Run for Your Life
The door to freedom slams shut and the lock snaps into place. Darkness surrounds you. First, the gloom clouds your vision, then it seeps into your soul. Your heartbeat quickens. Suddenly, you cannot seem to draw enough air into your lungs. You are trapped. Will this prison become your tomb?
But hope is not lost. The glimmer of an escape plan forms in your brain. It will be dangerous, even foolhardy. You have to muster every last ounce of courage and strength. Do you have what it takes to run for your life?
The human spirit craves freedom. When liberty is lost, people go to great lengths to get it back.
In this book, you will read about five ingenious escapes. You ll meet people willing to do whatever it takes to flee their surroundings.
Prisons take many forms. For example, slavery once doomed African American slaves to the lifelong prison of their masters whims. But in 1848, William and Ellen Craft made a bold dash for freedom. Donning clever disguises, the married couple escaped in broad daylight and fled 1,000 miles.
In another time and place, Douglas Mawson battled a power greater than any human villain. In 1913, Mother Nature trapped him in her icy Antarctic jaws. Alone and dangling by a fraying rope over a bottomless crevasse, all Douglas had to help him escape were his strength and his will to live.
In 1943, Nazi guards packed Belgian Jews into trains headed for Auschwitz, a concentration camp where millions of people were killed. The train cars were so crowded, people had to take turns sitting down. A hunk of moldy bread and a mouthful of water was their only sustenance.
As bad as the train was, 11-year-old Simon Gronowski knew what awaited him at Auschwitz would be worse. He was determined to find a way off the train as it hurtled ever closer to its ghastly destination. How would you escape?
Alcatraz was a rocky prison fortress designed to hold inmates until the end of their sentence or death, whichever came first. Prison officials bragged that it was impossible to escape. But in 1962, three inmates vanished, never to be seen again.
A wall divided the German city of Berlin down the middle for 28 years. This concrete barrier separated families and was closely guarded by communist East German police. East German citizens were not allowed to flee to democratic West Germany. But during two days in 1964, 29 East Germans crawled under the wall in a desperate race for freedom.
These people all faced different kinds of prisons, but they shared common traits. They had guts, grit, skill, and a lot of luck. Keep reading and you may find your pulse quickening as if you, too, were running for your life.
Chapter One
A Thousand Miles
For more than 200 years, slavery was legal in the United States. Punishments for trying to escape were severe. Runaways who were caught were whipped, maimed, or sold.
However, slavery was so awful that tens of thousands of enslaved people took their chances and ran. Most slaves fled in the middle of the night. They hid out in swamps and forests and were chased by bloodhounds. These flights for freedom usually ended in failure.
The story of William and Ellen Craft is different. This couple escaped from slavery in broad daylight and in first-class comfort.

William Craft knew sorrow. Born a slave in Macon, Georgia, in 1824, his parents and brother were sold when William was young. He was left with only his little sister. Then, when he was 16, William lost her, too. Their owner had fallen into debt and decided to sell the two children.

Illustrated London News , England, February 16, 1861
Slave auctions were often held on the steps of the courthouse. As townsfolk strolled past, buyers examined the human wares. The slaves were lined up according to height, and the slave trader ordered them to remove their coats or shawls.
Interested buyers ran their hands over the slaves bodies, fingering joints and kneading muscles. Slaves kept their faces blank while their mouths were pried open and their gums examined for signs of disease. A slave might be stripped to the waist by buyers looking for scars of whippings. No one wanted to buy a disobedient slave.
Sellers ordered the slaves to jump and dance so buyers could judge their strength and nimbleness.
William might have been spared this humiliation because he was a skilled worker. His owner had apprenticed William to a cabinetmaker, where he learned carpentry. Southern industry was expanding in the early nineteenth century and people needed laborers. Anyone who bought William could make a tidy profit by renting him out.
William s sister was sold first. As her new owner led her away, the auctioneer ordered William to step up on the auction block. But the boy could not take his eyes off his sister. William motioned to a slave friend standing nearby.
Run and ask the man who bought my sister if he can wait until I am sold, William said, so I can bid her farewell. The friend ran after the man, but returned a moment later with bad news. The buyer refused to wait.
William turned to the auctioneer and fell to his knees. Please, sir, he begged. May I just step down a moment and bid my sister a last farewell?
The auctioneer grabbed William by the neck and yanked him to his feet. Get up! . . . there is no use in seeing her.
The bidding began. William looked over the heads of the buyers and watched his sister climb into the back of a cart. She locked eyes with him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
As the cart slowly disappeared into the distance, William s heart swelled with such sadness he thought it might burst.
Two men purchased William-Ira E. Taylor and Robert Collins. Taylor was a bank clerk and Collins was a physician and founder of the Monroe and Bibb Counties Railroad and Banking Company. A wealthy man, Collins owned 1,000 acres of land and 62 slaves, including one young woman named Ellen Smith.
Ellen s mother was a biracial housemaid. Ellen s father was her mother s owner, a wealthy man named James Smith, who had a plantation in Clinton, Georgia. This made Ellen three-quarters white. She was so light-skinned that visitors to the estate often mistook her for a family member.
Mrs. Smith hated Ellen because the girl reminded her of her husband s unfaithfulness. Every day, Ellen became the target of the woman s rage.
Eventually, Mrs. Smith found a way to get rid of Ellen permanently. In 1837, the Smith s daughter, Eliza, married Robert Collins. As a wedding present, Mrs. Smith gave Ellen to Eliza Collins. Although she was only 11 years old, Ellen was taken from her mother and sent to live with Robert Collins and his new wife in Macon, Georgia.
For the rest of her life, Ellen was haunted by memories of how much she had missed her mother while growing up. She never wanted her own children to experience such loss.
Ellen was a personal maid. Petticoats, corsets, hoop skirts, silk, and straw hats consumed her day. She also helped her mistress bathe and dress and kept the bedchamber clean. When Eliza Collins went shopping, Ellen carried bags. She held the umbrella over her owner s head when it rained.
By the standards of slave life, Ellen was privileged. Eliza Collins was kind to Ellen, perhaps because they were half-sisters. While most ladies maids slept on pallets at the foot of their mistress s beds, Ellen was given a one-room cabin behind the family home. She was never sent to the sugar house, where slaves were whipped or branded as punishment.
But Ellen was still a slave. The law denied her basic rights: to be paid for her work, to travel when and where she wanted, to learn to read, and to be legally married. And, worst of all, if Ellen ever had children, they, too, would be slaves, and could be take away from her at any time.
William Craft and Ellen Smith met at the house of Eliza and Robert Collins.
History is silent about the first time William and Ellen laid eyes on each other, but the moment can be imagined. Perhaps William came to the Collins house to deliver his monthly pay to Mr. Collins. He was walking up the steps of the back porch when the door opened. A slim, young woman stepped out. Her skin was so fair that William assumed she was a member of the Collins f