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    Fortune's Bones

    The Manumission Requiem

    Author Marilyn Nelson
    Hardcover
    $16.95 US
    Astra Publishing House | Wordsong
    6.38"W x 9.77"H x 0.42"D   | 10 oz | 48 per carton
    On sale Nov 01, 2004 | 40 Pages | 9781932425123
    Age 6-9 years | Grades 1-4
    Reading Level: Lexile NP
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    Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award

    For young readers comes a poetic commemoration of the life of an 18th-century slave, from a past poet laureate and three-time National Book Award finalist

    For over 200 years, the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut has housed a mysterious skeleton. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of an enslaved man named Fortune, who was owned by a local doctor. After Fortune’s death, the doctor rendered the bones.

    Further research revealed that Fortune had married, had fathered four children, and had been baptized later in life. His bones suggest that after a life of arduous labor, he died in 1798 at about the age of 60. The Manumission Requiem is Marilyn Nelson’s poetic commemoration of Fortune’s life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader’s appreciation of the poem.
    Marilyn Nelson is a past poet laureate of the state of Connecticut and a three-time National Book Award finalist. She is the author of two award-winning books for young people, Carver: A Life in Poems and Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem. She lives in East Haddam, Connecticut. View titles by Marilyn Nelson

    About

    Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award

    For young readers comes a poetic commemoration of the life of an 18th-century slave, from a past poet laureate and three-time National Book Award finalist

    For over 200 years, the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut has housed a mysterious skeleton. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of an enslaved man named Fortune, who was owned by a local doctor. After Fortune’s death, the doctor rendered the bones.

    Further research revealed that Fortune had married, had fathered four children, and had been baptized later in life. His bones suggest that after a life of arduous labor, he died in 1798 at about the age of 60. The Manumission Requiem is Marilyn Nelson’s poetic commemoration of Fortune’s life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader’s appreciation of the poem.

    Author

    Marilyn Nelson is a past poet laureate of the state of Connecticut and a three-time National Book Award finalist. She is the author of two award-winning books for young people, Carver: A Life in Poems and Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem. She lives in East Haddam, Connecticut. View titles by Marilyn Nelson

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