In 1807, at the height of the slave trade, Ajeemah and his son, Atu, are snatched by slave traders from their home in Africa while en route to deliver a dowry to Atu's bride-to-be. Ajeemah and Atu are then taken to Jamaica and sold to neighboring plantations'never to see one another again. "Readers will come away with a new sense of respect for those who maintained their dignity and humanity under the cruelest of circumstances."'SLJ. "Each moment here of the Jamaican-born poet's terse, melodious narrative is laden with emotion. . . . Brilliant, complex, powerfully written."??K. <P> <awards> Notable Children's Book of 1993 (ALA)<br>1993 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)<br>1993 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)<br>1992 Books for Youth Editors' Choices (BL)<br>Notable 1992 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)<br>Bulletin Blue Ribbons 1992 (C)<br><br>1993 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)<br>Children's Books of 1992 (Library of Congress)<br>1993 Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction Award</awards>