Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery,

Freedom, and Science (review)

Elizabeth Bush

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Volume 64, Number 3, November
2010, p. 116 (Review)

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/bcc.2010.0260

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/399947

Access provided at 3 Jan 2020 20:11 GMT from Reading University (+1 other institution account)
116  •  The Bulletin

winter of 1777-8, but Curzon and his comrades cooperate to make the best of dire
circumstances. When Burns rises to the rank of sergeant, though, and Curzon’s legal
owner, James Bellingham, reclaims his service, Curzon begins to plot yet another
escape. His situation is immediately complicated by the appearance of Isabel,
who has been recaptured and sold to Bellingham. Bellingham knows Curzon will
withhold his labor, so he threatens to punish Isabel, who already wears a locked
metal cuff around her neck, for each infraction he may cause. Desperate but un-
able to plan a foolproof escape, Curzon and Isabel are blessed by chance and the
unexpected aid of Curzon’s old comrades at arms with some slim hope of freedom
as the novel ends and they march out of Valley Forge, protectively surrounded by
decamping troops. The saga that began as Isabel’s tale loses none of its tension as
it switches to Curzon’s plight, and the pair’s situation at the novel’s conclusion is
precarious enough to suggest—even demand—another volume. Again Anderson
crafts her source notes into a reader-friendly Q&A discussion and appends a glos-
sary of eighteenth-century terms. As one of Curzon’s mates observes, “This camp
is a forge for the army; it’s testing our qualities. . . . Question is, what are we made
of?” For Curzon and Isabel, it’s sorrow, grit, and a passion for freedom. EB

Aronson, Marc  Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom,
and Science; by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos.  Clarion, 2010  [176p]  il-
lus. with photographs
ISBN 978-0-618-57492-6  $20.00
Reviewed from galleys   R  Gr. 7-12
Let’s be clear: this is not a quick-pick history of junk food, even though readers will
probably never look at a Snickers bar or Jolly Rancher the same way again. This is
a poignant, ultimately hopeful essay that clearly chronicles the human pursuit of
sugar to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. The book describes this history in terms
of ages, beginning with the Age of Honey, built on local growth and consumption of
comestibles; through the Age of Sugar and its slave-supported, “factory” plantation
method of production; and into a period of science and freedom, when enslaved
workers claimed their human rights and production of sweeteners shifted from
the field to the lab. Discussion is divided into four parts, covering the ages defined
by the authors and then drawing history into current events with a closing look at
modern sugar workers. As with other Aronson titles, the reward is commensurate
with the challenge, and readers who follow the authors’ provocative yet accessible
narration will gain fresh insight not only into sugar but also into the worldwide
matrix in which slavery flourished. Black-and-white photographs, timelines, a web
guide to color images, a research essay, annotated notes, a bibliography, and an index
are appended. Older readers intrigued by food as a world history focus might also
want to move on to Mark Kurlansky’s adult works Cod or Salt. EB

Balliett, Blue  The Danger Box.  Scholastic, 2010  [320p]

ISBN 978-0-439-85209-8  $16.99
Reviewed from galleys   R  Gr. 4-7
Zoomy has had the odds stacked against him—he was abandoned by his parents,
he’s beset with compulsive anxiety-assuaging rituals, and he’s afflicted with bad
vision—but the twelve-year-old has been thriving in his grandparents’ loving
household in their small Michigan town. When his estranged alcoholic father
leaves a mysterious box behind on a flying visit, Zoomy discovers in it a strange