"You march straight home, sir," said Tommy's father, "and go to your room." Then Mr. Fuller went back into church and banged the door behind him.

Instead, Tommy wanders into the barn. There he is startled to find a family of escaping slaves. And so begins an adventure which teaches Tommy that all laws are not fair for all people.

This moving story by F. N. Monjo, set in New England in the decade before the Civil War, is sensitively dramatized in Fred Brenner's vibrant drawings.A quick-witted young boy helps an escaping slave family follow the ‘drinking gourd’ (Big Dipper) along the Underground Railroad to freedom.‘An exciting and moving adventure story for beginning readers.’ —BL.

Notable Children's Books of 1940–1970 (ALA)
Children's Books of 1970 (Library of Congress)