If I Just Had Two Wings

Mary St. Onge-Davidson is president of the Essential English Centre in
Ottawa.

Phoebe is a 13-year-old slave girl living on an Alabama plantation in
1861. She dreams of escaping to freedom, and before long her dream
becomes a reality. This story chronicles her escape via the Underground
Railroad to Southwestern Ontario.

As Phoebe and her friend Liney, along with Liney’s two young
children, make their way to Canada, they face many dangers. Drawing on
her memories of the African folk tales she’d heard that spoke of the
power to fly, Phoebe holds onto her dream of “flying” as her only
hope to freedom. Through her belief in her dream, she accepts her
African heritage and finds a new life.

Schwartz has done a fine job of researching her story. Her weaving of
actual facts into the narrative makes the book both compelling and
informative. The reader will not only learn about the Underground
Railroad but also about the injustices of slavery, the dangers slaves
faced in seeking freedom, and the importance of traditional song in
Afro-American culture. Through her evocative and touching story, readers
will also understand that dreams are what carry us. Highly recommended.