Buffalo Soldier
03 April 2014Synopsis
Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015, this is a beautiful piece of historical fiction told with heart and humanity.
Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015. "What kind of a girl steals the clothes from a dead man's back and runs off to join the army? A desperate one. That's who." At the end of the American Civil War, Charley – a young African-American slave from the deep south – is ostensibly freed. But then her adopted mother is raped and lynched at the hands of a mob and Charley is left alone. In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the colour of a person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises herself as a man and joins the army. Soon she's being sent to the prairies to fight a whole new war against the "savage Indians". Trapped in a world of injustice and inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache territory that she begins to learn what it is to be truly free.
Details
03 April 2014
9781406314595Reviews
The narrative voice never falters and the reading experience is completely immersive and unforgettable. Valuable lessons of history are taken to heart and live with you when you experience them through fiction, as is proved by the impact of Little Big Man and Roots upon the author and upon me and countless others I suspect. Apache and now the intense and superbly well written Buffalo Soldier will have the same effect upon today's teenagers.Joy Court, Reading Zone
This uncompromising novel will encourage critical thinking in young readers. Landman tackles issues of justice head-on and she doesn’t flinch from depicting the brutality that inevitably accompanies conflict. But the mood of the novel is reflective and often upbeat. After many tough experiences Charley finds friendship and love, so the young reader will find some resolution at the end of this thought-provoking page-turnerWe Love This Book
A tour de forceCatherine Johnson, The History Girls
Tanya Landman’s Buffalo Soldiers is about a female slave who runs away dressed as a boy. By turns funny, laconic and harrowing, Charley is a narrator you all for instantly as she outwits the plantation owner, sees her friends murdered and embarks on a quest for freedom and justice in the American civil warAmanda Craig, New Statesman