【商品详情】
书名：Chains 链条
难度：Lexile蓝思阅读指数780L
作者：Laurie Halse Anderson
出版社名称：Atheneum Books for Young Readers
出版时间：2010
语种：英文
ISBN：9781416905868
商品尺寸：13 x 2.5 x 19.4 cm
包装：平装
页数：336
Chains《链条》是美国作家劳丽·哈尔斯·安德森所著的历史类小说《美国的种子》（Seeds of America trilogy）系列的曲，讲述了在美国独立战争时期，一名叫伊莎贝尔的13岁非洲裔奴隶和她妹妹为自由而奋斗的故事。本书曾入围美国国家图书奖，荣获2009年司各特·奥台尔历史小说奖（Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction）。
推荐理由：
1. 美国著名青少年作家劳丽·哈尔斯·安德森（著有《说出来》）代表作之一；
2.美国百年中学推荐学生阅读的历史类图书；
3. 英文原版，故事生动精彩，阅读难度不大。
If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?
As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.
From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.
故事发生在1776年到1777年的纽约，当时的奴隶制是合法存在的。随着革命战争的开始，13岁的伊莎贝尔也开始了为自由的奋斗……
Chains is the first novel in the Seeds of America trilogy, a series of historical novel that follows the story of thirteen-year-old Isabel, an African-American slave fighting for her and her younger sister’s freedom while the Revolutionary War is occurring. The story sets in New York in the years 1776 to 1777, when slavery was something that was legal and common in the colonies.
劳丽·哈尔斯·安德森，《纽约时报》畅销书作家，以幽默和敏锐而著称。她的作品获得过许多奖项。《说出来》和《链条》（Chains）均入围美国国家图书奖名单。2009年，她获得由美国青少年图书馆服务会颁发的“玛格丽特·A.爱德华兹”奖，以表彰她“为YA文学坚持不懈的努力和重要贡献”。
同时，她是四个孩子的妈妈和一位妻子。她生活在纽约北部，在那里，她可以一边写作一边看着窗外的白雪飘落。
Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. Her work has earned numerous ALA and state awards. Two of her books,Chains andSpeak, were National Book Award finalists.Chains also received the 2009 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and Laurie was chosen for the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award. Mother of four and wife of one, Laurie lives in Pennsylvania, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes. You can follow her adventures on Twitter @HalseAnderson, or visit her at MadWomanintheForest.com.
CHAPTER VIII
Wednesday, May 29- Thursday, June 6, 1776
...we have in common With all other men a naturel right to our freedoms without Being depriv’d of them by our fellllow men.... we were unjustly dragged by the cruel hand of power from our dearest friends and sum of us stolen...and Brought hither to be made slaves for Life in a Christstian land Thus are we deprived of every thing that hath a tendency to make life even tolerable...
— Petition for freedom from a group of slaves to Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage, His Majesty’s Council, and the House of Representntatives, 25 May 1774
The days started early in the Lockton kitchen. Since Becky lived in a boardinghouse on Oliver Street, it fell to me to wake first and build up the fire. She did the proper cooking, and I did near everything else, like washing pots and plates and beating eggs till my arms fell off for Madam’s almond jumbles and plum cakes with icing. If not in the kitchen, I was removing colonies of spiders, polishing tables and chairs, or sweeping up a mountain of dust. I saved the cobwebs, twisting them around a rag and storing them by our pallet in the cellar.
Cobwebs were handy when a person had a bloody cut.
Madam complained every time she saw me: I left a streak of wax on the tabletop. I tracked in mud. I faced a china dog toward the door after I dusted it, which would cause the family’s luck to run out. At the end of every scolding, I cast down my eyes and said, “Yes, Madam.”
I kept careful track of her the same way as I used to mind the neighbor’s bull when I took the milk cows out to pasture. She had not hit me again, but always seemed on the edge of it.
Mostly Madam slept late, wrote letters, and picked out melodies on a badly tuned spinet. A few times, she and her husband conversated fast and quiet about Mr. Washington and when the King’s ships would arrive for the invasion. They argued fierce on Thursday night. Lockton shouted and called Madam rude names before storming out of the house, the front door crashing behind him.
Ivowed not to cross neither of them.
Madam went to bed early that night, so we did too. Ruth snuggled next to me and fell asleep quick. I lay awake, praying hard but gaining little comfort.
I was lost. I knew that we were in the cellar of a house on Wall Street, owned by the Locktons, in the city of New York, but it was like looking at a knot, knowing it was a knot, but not knowing how to untie it. I had no map for this life.
I lay awake and stared into the darkness.
Madam called for tea in her bedchamber the next morning and sent for Ruth, who was pumping the butter churn with vigor.
