47

47

Set on a Georgia plantation in 1832 and narrated by protagonist 47, a child born into slavery, we follow 47 as he meets a runaway slave from a nearby plantation, Tall John. Alluding to folklore, Tall John mirrors the legend of High John the Conqueror, a tale of an African spirit who frees African American slaves. Mystery writer Walter Mosley’s first and only work of young adult fiction is a synthesis of African American folklore and science fiction. Throughout the narrative, 47 comes to realize that Tall John does not hail from Africa, but from a distant planet, painting slavery as a universal injustice.

Walter Mosley

New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005.