Chains
Laurie Halse Anderson (2008)
“A thirteen-year-old enslaved girl discovers that the Revolutionary War's promise of liberty was never meant for her.”
At a Glance
Isabel, a thirteen-year-old enslaved girl in 1776 New York, is promised freedom in her owner's will but is instead sold — along with her younger sister Ruth — to the cruel Loyalist Anne Lockton. As the American Revolution rages around her, Isabel spies for the Patriot rebels in exchange for the promise of emancipation. When both sides betray her and Ruth is sold away, Isabel is branded on the cheek with the letter 'I' for insolence. She ultimately realizes that neither Patriot nor Loyalist will free her, and she must seize her own liberty. On Christmas night 1776, Isabel escapes across the river to New Jersey, taking the imprisoned Patriot soldier Curzon with her.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
Chains is one of the first widely adopted middle-grade novels to place an enslaved protagonist at the center of the American Revolution. Before its publication, the dominant narrative of the Revolution in children's literature focused almost exclusively on white Patriot perspectives. Anderson's novel introduced millions of young readers to the historical reality that the founding of the United States was inseparable from the institution of slavery — a corrective that has made the book both celebrated and frequently challenged.
Diction Profile
Controlled, period-inflected first person — formal syntax reflecting both the historical setting and Isabel's learned caution as an enslaved narrator
Moderate