* A Good Night For Freedom      Barbara Morrow

This is a great historical fiction novel about finding freedom in a time of slavery and the underground railroad.  This story begins when a young Hallie is told to take butter to a sick neighbor, and on the way home runs into men on horses.  They are searching for two young black slaves who have escaped and ask young Hallie if she has seen them.  She has not and sends them on their way.  She soon finds out these two girls are hiding out at the house she took butter to and feels a moral obligation.  She is worried about knowing that these girls are hiding, but also is worried about why the girls are running away.  She tells her neighbor she saw the girls and they tell her to keep quiet because the men who own them are bad men.  Her father has always told her not to meddle in others business, but she can not help but feel guilty for knowing those girls are hiding.  She returns to that house and comes face to face with the slave escapees.  She begins talking to them and soon finds out how they were getting sold and seperated from eachother and their mama and can not bear to work anymore.  Hallie gets confronted by those men on horses again and she tells them she has seen the girls and sends the men through the woods, when those girls are safely hiding in a hidden room in the neighbors house.  She wants those girls to see their mother again and have a great life.  She feels accomplished for helping and knows her morals are in the right place, even though she lied.  This story is great for older kids who can  comprehend what a guilty conscience is and moral obligations.  It is best for 4th grade and up that understand when a lie is okay and when it is not okay, and the content of slavery.