Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge is an expertly crafted young readers edition of Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve's 2017 National Book Award Nonfiction finalist, Never Caught.
Ona Maria Judge had been a "slave since birth," always wondering and worrying whether her masters thought her "quiet enough or helpful enough or invisible enough." On Saturday, May 21, 1796, this changed. While George and Martha Washington ate dinner, Ona slipped out of the Washingtons' plantation home and made her way down to the docks, where she boarded the Nancy. Dunbar and Van Cleve give this moment--and all of Ona's trials--a feeling of immediacy, vividly imagining the 23-year-old woman's feelings: "Fear of... being a slave for the remainder of her life must make her feel like she is wearing a blanket of fire around her neck."
This story is made accessible to a young audience by including a thorough timeline, text from Ona's 1845 interview with the Granite Freeman, and clear, direct language that remains candid throughout. The authors use the country's growth as a point of reference: Ona grew up "with a front row seat to not only the literal battlegrounds of the Revolutionary War, but also the battle of ideas sparked by the formation of a brand-new country." It's a story of hardship and brutality--the Washingtons never stopped looking for Ona; she never achieved a "happily ever after"--but it's also an intriguing tale of perseverance. And, "like America itself, Ona [risked] everything so that she, too, could achieve those rights written in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness