Elijah is the first free born in the Canadian ex-slave settlement.  He is your regular eleven year old boy.  He likes to play tricks on his mama, but he is helpful and kind to his neighbors.  His mom calls him “fra-gile,” since he has such a soft heart.   Elijah is always trying to prove himself to show his mom he is no longer a fragile little boy.  He often is misled by the “Preacher,” who always has ulterior motives.  He can’t quite understand what it means to have survived slavery since he has never witnessed it or experienced it first hand. His elders help to show him how to be a respectable gentleman.  He learns from through everyday experiences.  When he tries to call his friends the “n” word, he gets a slap in the face and a serious talking to about the hate behind that word.  This is an important lesson for young people today to learn.  Often the word “nigger” is used casually, when the speaker should consider the connotations associated with it.    There are some laugh out loud funny parts, like when Cooter thinks the day’s lesson is going to be about family breeding contests, when in reality the lesson is on respecting your elders.  Elijah is brave and selfless when he risks his life to free a baby from slavery.  Each chapter could almost stand alone as a short story.  I enjoyed this about the book.  I think kids would especially relate to Elijah because he makes mistakes just like all of us did as kids.  He doesn’t tell his parents everything.  He thinks he knows best, but later learns maybe mom and dad did know what they were talking about.  Through it all he matures from a fragile little boy to a dignified young man.  This coming of age story would be great for upper elementary and middle school.