Mulatto Girl Aggie, 13: Name on the Ledger

What an incredible page turner! This novel was truly a revelation, blending historical realities to provide unique perspective. I will now seek out more writing from the talented LaKesa Cox!

I loved LaKesa Cox's writing style as well as her characters. Sometimes it just takes bringing a child down to earth for them to realise what they have in their parents and their upbringing. Aggie unfortunately had to experience this via a dream where she went back 200 years into the past.

Great lessons for children to be learnt. I really enjoyed this story. I would recommend this book to YA as well as to woman fiction lovers.

Thank you to Black Rose Writing via Netgalley for the copy.

I could say that this is a middle-school version of <a href=" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60931.Kindred">Kindred</a>, but that would be putting down Kindred. But, it is, but with less consequences.

This is the story of a bratty girl who gets sent back to 1816, to be a slave, as her ancestors were, and because this is a middle-school book, there are no consequences to her going back in time. I was hoping there would be. I was hoping she would find the bracelet among her grandmother's things.

In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91357.The_Devil_s_Arithmetic?ac=1&from_search=true"> The Devil's Arithmetic</a> Hannah makes a sacrifice, and works in the future, to save a life.

So, I was disappointed that all this did was realize that her life is better 200 years in the future.

Still it is a very good introduction to explain slavery to middle-school readers, including rape and torture. For that, for not diluting slavery, it gets the four stars, although it could have been so much better.

Oh, and there wouldn't be photos on the wall. Photos, and even degeratipes weren't around until at least the 1830s, if then.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Aggie, a 13 year old in 2016, gets transported to 1816, where she is a slave. The novel is short, but full of meaning. It would be a great teaching tool for those who are giving lessons on slavery in America. I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After hitting her head, Aggie is transported to 1816 and is a slave. This was a lot like "A Girl Called Boy" by Belinda Hurmence. I didn't care for it too much, because I did not feel that Aggie learned anything except to be grateful that her life is better in the present than it was as a slave. To me it just seems like thumbing your nose up at those that were/are enslaved.

Still a good read and would definitely use it in a classroom setting.

Aggie is a young girl who hates school and acts out all the time in class. She’s sort of the class clown, but with a mean streak. Her father, who is temporarily out of work, and her mother and grandmother, try to lecture her on proper manners at school, but Aggie doesn’t listen. When she doesn’t get a very expensive gift for her birthday, she gets in trouble at home too. At school that day, she gets sent to detention for her behavior. That’s where the story moves into a different realm. Aggie, the spoiled teenager from 2016, wakes up in 1816, in a slave camp with her mother.

Aggie begins to learn some very important historical and life lessons as she and her mother are transported back in time to a place where evil men held slaves and treated them horribly. Aggie doesn’t know what to do at first, but gradually learns as time goes on. It’s sort of a Wizard of Oz story with a historical twist. Only this girl doesn’t wake up in some beautiful place like Oz, she wakes up in hell.

The place where she lives is dirty and she has no shoes. Her clothes are rags and she can’t talk out of turn, or she risks punishment. She meets the other people who live in the slave camp and they share their stories. She sees some mistreated and others just barely getting by. In short, she gets a very big lesson on the true history of America and the slavery that drove the economy of southern states in those days. It’s a big wake-up call to a spoiled teen from the future, but how will Aggie get back home?

Some readers may find the language offensive (the N word is used), but this is a story based in historical times when that language was used commonly. It should be read in that context. Not only is it a history lesson, but it’s the story of how one teen learns to appreciate how far we have come in 2016, even though we still have a long way to go. This book would be appropriate as supporting material for teachers to use in classes studying American history and the slavery issue. It’s an entertaining story and the reader is drawn into it with Aggie. The reader, through Aggie’s eyes, begins to emphasize with some of the terror and tension that the slaves must have felt having to live that life.

The basic story line has been used before. Someone is transported back in time for some reason or other. But, this story has a message to tell us. That we need to learn from history and remember the lessons we have learned. Slavery is wrong and there is a reason why it was abolished. To that end, I recommend that educators adopt this book as part of their curriculum to introduce students to the time period and the important lessons found here. It is disturbing to read some parts of this story, but we should not avoid the issue due to a slight discomfort with confronting the truth head-on.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure if this book would be too juvenile for me, but the answer is a resounding "no". It is perfect for middle-schoolers or young adults And still is a fine read for adults. It is a relatively short novel of less than 200 pages and the ending does feel a little rushed though. This was nearly a 5-star read, I'd put it at a 4.75 star rating because of the rushed ending. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Mulatto Girl Aggie, 13: Name on the Ledger is a novella written by Lakesa Cox based on the adventures of a time traveling ordinary girl named Aggie. Starting in present day America, circa President Barack Obama's administration, the action quickly starts rolling within the first few chapters.

We are first introduced to Aggie the day before her momentous thirteenth birthday. Right off the bat, Cox let's it be known that Aggie is not the average kid: she's actually well advanced beyond her peers in intelligence however she is far behind in maturity. However, she is quickly introduced to the real world of adulthood, when a bump on the head transport her back to 1816, during the prime time of slavery.

Still believing that she was in some kind of dream, her first day in the past started off with her finding out one of her beloved parents was sold off to another plantation and concluded with her receiving her first mark of a slave: a whip across her back for questioning her white masters. The proceeding next five days would redefine her life forever. But will she be stuck in the 1800s for he rest of her life, or will she finally find her way home?

I believe Cox has done an adequate portrayal of slave life back then. The only thing that seemed implausible was the maturity level of Aggie's inner thoughts. Even for a highly intelligent character, her thoughts seemed to be more so an average 16 year olds. All in all, I would like to see how Aggie ends up in a few years, when she's in her early 20s.