A House Divided

by Marshall Poe

illustrated by Leland Purvis

Part of the Turning Points Series

Summary

This graphic novel begins with the death of two abolitionists in Boston in the spring of 1856. Owen and Amos are their sons, and they plan to carry on the legacy of their parents by continuing to host fugitive slaves traveling through the Underground Railroad. Jeremiah, a fugitive slave about the same age as Amos, is friends with him, and Amos helps him to reunite with his family. Amos's father believes they need to continue traveling north to Boston, as "no slave is safe in this country with the Fugitive Slave Law" which stated if slaves were found by their owners, they are to be sent back. Amos stumbles into a conversation with the adults when they are discussing Abraham Lincoln as a possible advocate for the end of slavery. Upon hearing that slavery is a big problem in Kansas but there are many abolitionists there, Amos convinces Owen that they should move to Kansas to fight slavery and help there. However, upon getting there they realized that the abolitionists fought with guns and knives instead of with words and actions. Owen wants to go join ranks with Abraham Lincoln, but Amos runs off, choosing instead to work with John Brown. Amos realizes after he is already there that Brown uses unnecessary violence to push his agenda. His troops are outnumbered, and Amos's friend is killed in battle. Meanwhile, Owen is present when Abraham Lincoln gives his "A house divided against itself cannot stand" speech, after winning the Republican vote for Senate. Brown has changed his tactics from freeing slaves to attacking the government. However, this attack gets him hanged, and Amos makes his way to hear Abraham Lincoln speak in hopes he will find his brother Owen. He travels to Lincoln's Springfield office and is reunited with his brother right before Lincoln receives the nomination for the Presidency and ultimately wins. The end of the book describes the inevitable beginning of the Civil War.

Discussion

This is the first graphic novel I have ever read, as I was not interested in them when I was younger. I would recommend this book to high level second graders or third graders as an independent read. The topic of slavery covered in the book could be difficult for younger children to grasp in this context, even though the language is simple enough for good readers in the first grade to read. Their maturity level may just not be quite high enough as of yet. While reading the book I was interested to see what happened next, as it wove a story of two separated brothers, each fighting for the same thing in different ways, with the prelude to the Civil War. The book was able to parallel the boys' fights with those of the abolitionists, as there were two main ways to fight slavery: violence and through peace and governmental change. This book presents children with a great social justice issue of whether violence can be used for good, whether it is inevitable in some cases, or if social change can begin through peace.

As this book was just published this year, I believe it will win awards, or at least be placed on reading lists in upper elementary classrooms, due to the symbolism of the brothers' struggles with the struggles of our nation during the time before the Civil War. The drawings in the book successfully convey the frustration as well ass the determination of Owen and Amos, and the fact they are in black and white allows them to be a nice support to the story instead of the story themselves.

Poe, M. (2009). A House Divided (Turning Points). New York: Aladdin.