• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 7

A riveting tale of a brave family's last bid for freedom, and the price they pay to find it.

Julia May and her family have done the unthinkable. They have fled from their life of slavery on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, and are making their way north, on foot, where they have heard that slaves can live free. Their story, told through Julia May's journal entries, is gruelling. Their journey takes them through swamps, travelling by night and hiding by day. It is a harrowing, terrifying experience, but determination to find a new life in Canada keeps them going.

The diary that Julia May keeps is another act of bravery. Learning to read and write alongside her mistress at the plantation was her own secret, and strictly forbidden for a slave girl. Now as she records her fears and the extraordinary things she sees during her journey, she is deeply afraid that she'll be found out and suffer the consequences. But her journal keeps her going through the hard times until they are finally free. Readers will be moved as they follow her family's trek north . . . but even here old prejudices die hard.

Karleen Bradford is the award-winning author of twenty-two works of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults. Her books include historical novels, fantasy and contemporary stories, as well as picture books and chapter books.

She was born in Toronto, Ontario, but spent most of her childhood years in Argentina. She returned to Canada to take a B.A. at the University of Toronto in 1959, and married James Bradford, a Foreign Service Officer with the Canadian Government. Until 1992, Karleen and her family travelled and lived in Colombia, the United States, England, the Philippines, Brazil, Germany and Puerto Rico, with two home postings in Canada. Settings for many of her books have come from these countries. She now lives back in Canada in Owen Sound, Ontario. Three children, four grandchildren, and assorted granddogs live nearby.

Karleen has taught Creative Writing and Writing for Children at Algonquin College, the Adult High School, and various community centres in Ottawa. During a posting in Germany she also taught creative writing classes and did writing workshops with children in U.S.A. Department of Defense Schools throughout the country. In 1999 she worked with students in the Taipei American School in Taiwan.

She has worked in schools across Canada through The Writers' Union of Canada and the Ontario Arts Council programs for writers in the schools and has, as well, participated in numerous Canada Council Readings programs. She toured Nova Scotia in 1984, New Brunswick in 1989, Quèbec in 1998, and Manitoba in 2005 for the TD Children's Book Week, and has worked as a Writer in Residence for the WIER (Writers in Electronic Residence) program in schools across Canada.

You can find out more about Karleen and her work at www.karleenbradford.com.

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