Web Book Report

My Name is Not Angelica

Scott O’Dell

Introduction	Summary	Book Review
Setting & Characters	Michelle - 28 November 12, 2004 Language Arts	Author Info

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Introduction

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a slave back in the 1700’s? Slaves had to work in the fields most of the day and were treated very badly. Times back then were a lot different from times then. Today we don’t use slaves usually at home where back then they used many slaves. You can find out about the slave life in the book My name is not Angelica.

Summary

The book My name is not Angelica was about a girl named Raisha who lived in Africa until she was captured with her two friends, Konje and Dondo, and brought to St. John Island to work as a slave. Raisha was the only one taken from her family so she was alone. The plantation owner known as Master Van Prok owned her.

On the plantation, Raisha worked in the household for Master Van Prok’s wife, Mistress Jenna Van Prok who gave her a name, Angelica, to forget help her heritage. According to the Master, Raisha received one of the better jobs working on the plantation. Konje also worked in the household, but for the Master. After working on the plantation for a couple of months, he ran away.

Times became tough when many slaves started running away and the slave revolt began. In response, Governor Phillip Gardelin made the laws for slaves much stricter. These laws included taking apart slaves bodies, pinching them with burning hot tongs, whipping the person, and hanging the person.

Konje created a place located at Mary Point where runaway slaves could escape. Time passed and Raisha started to become worried about Konje. One day a runaway boy was found in a tree and was going to have to suffer the consequences set by the slave law. Dondo, a friend of Raisha’s, helped the boy escape and was caught. For this, he suffered greatly and died. Raisha started to think about running away herself. Within a few days, she ran away. Since it was a two day trip to Mary Point, a campsite for runaway slaves, Raisha stopped along the way and found a great camp site with plenty of fish and fresh fruit, so she stayed there for a couple of weeks. When Raisha finally reached Mary Point, she was relieved and she shared some special times with Konje.

A week went by and many slaves had run away. The governor was losing control so he asked for help from Spain. They sent many men and eventually a small war broke out between the slaves and the governor’s military force. Everyone escaped from being captured except for Raisha because she was pregnant with her and Konje’s baby and it was difficult to move.

Raisha was a slave for another year for a different owner and her responsibility was to take care of the family’s children. She was then released and given her freedom with her daughter.

Setting:

This story takes place in Africa, St. John Island, St.Thomas Island, year-1733

Characters

¨ Raisha was the main character in the story. She was a sixteen-year-old girl who went through a tremendous change in her life style when she became a slave on St. John Island.

¨ Konje is another main character who was captured with Raisha from Africa and brought to St. John Island to be a slave. He didn’t experience much of the slave life because he ran away after only being on the plantation for a few months.

¨ Master Van Prok was the owner of the plantation where Raisha worked as a slave. He gave Konje and Dondo new names.

¨ Isaak Gronnewold was a preacher who brought news from many of the plantations and read scriptures of the Bible to the slaves

¨ Governor Phillip Gardelin was the governor of St. Thomas and St. John Islands as well as being the chief of the Danish West India and Guinea Company.

¨ Mistress Jenna Van Prok was Master Van Prok’s wife who drank too much. Raisha was her slave.

¨ Dondo was a very helpful slave who was captured with Raisha and Konje from Africa. He was also extremely brave.

About the Author

Scott O’Dell was born on May 23, 1898 in Los Angeles, California. As a child he moved very often with his family. Scott loved to play outdoors and in the water. He attended various colleges and only took classes that helped him in his writing career and interested him. Mr. O’Dell had many other different jobs before he began writing adult books in 1934 and children books in the 1950’s. He received many Newberry Honor Metals, but the first was for one of his most famous books, “The Island of the Blue Dolphins.” He also received other different awards. Some of the books he wrote were “The Black Pearl, Black Star, Bright Dawn, Alexandra, The Captive, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Castle in the Sea, and The Serpent Never Sleeps.” On October 15, 1989, Scott O’Dell died.

Book Review

The book My Name is not Angelica is a book that tells the life of many slaves. The story expresses Raisha’s feelings when her life style changes from being a young girl in Africa to a hard working slave on a plantation during the slave revolution. I enjoyed this book because I like to read about the slave life. Other children of the age eight to fourteen, who like reading books about the slave revolution and how slaves survived these difficult times, would enjoy this book.