Review of Dear Benjamin Banneker
by Caleb Powell (with a little help from Mommy and
Daddy)
In
Dear
Benjamin Banneker, Andrea Davis Pinkney writes about how Benjamin
Banneker grew up as a free man. His mother grew up as a free person,
too. His father had been a slave, but he was free by the time Benjamin
Banneker was born.
When Benjamin Banneker was a boy, he liked to study nature -- like
the stars and the slugs on his parents' tobacco farm. When he got
older, he had to spend so much time taking care of the tobacco farm
his parents left for him, but he really wanted to spend a lot of time
finding out the answers to all of his questions about the sky. Sometimes,
he used to stay up all night and study while everyone else was sleeping.
One year, almost every night that year, he studied the sky.
Benjamin Banneker wanted to publish an almanac about the things he
studied, but no one would publish it at first. Then, a man named John
Pemberton said he wanted to publish it. Benjamin Banneker cared that
Black people who were slaves would not be able to read his almanac
because they were still slaves. So, he wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson
to remind him that everyone was created equal and to tell him that
all Blacks should be free to learn the same way that he (Benjamin
Banneker) could do that!
Eleven days later, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter back to Benjamin
Banneker. It was in the second almanac that Benjamin Banneker published.
Five more of Benjamin Banneker's almanacs were published every year
after that but he died before slavery ended.
Caleb is a 7-year-old first-grader who is doing
very well in school. He enjoys the outdoors and welcomes every opportunity
to play outside with his friends. He is an avid football fan and plays
Flag Football, Soccer and Basketball. Because of his high interest
in football, his parents are currently helping him to master the names
of the United States by matching states to the names of professional
and college football teams. Caleb's thoroughly enjoying that lesson!
April 4, 2004
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