ParentsPick

Promises to the Dead — Content Guide for Parents

By Mary Downing HahnHoughton Mifflin HarcourtISBN 9780547258386208 pages
Promises to the Dead

Found in this book

  • ViolenceSupporting
  • Scary contentSupporting
  • Race & cultureCentral

Not found

  • Religion
  • Climate
  • Sexual content
  • Gender roles
  • Gender & orientation

Couldn't confirm

  • Profanity
  • Profanity: No source covers the book's language or lists swear words.

Content themes

Factual summary of themes present in this book. No opinion — just the facts.

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Summaries and source quotes for every theme.

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Example theme card

Religion

PRESENT

Contains references to prayer and church attendance. A minister character plays a supporting role in two chapters.

About this book

When Jesse went down to the marsh on that fateful day, he expected to find a turtle for terrapin soup. Instead, he comes across a dying slave woman who makes Jesse promise he'll take her young son, Perry, to a relative in Baltimore. Aiding and abetting a slave is against the law, and it also goes against everything Jesse has been taught to believe. But he can't break a promise to the dead, and, more important, he has to follow what he knows in his heart to be right. The journey is more treacherous than Jesse ever imagined. At the crossroads of a country about to plunge into civil war, danger lurks around every corner. Will these boys on the run ever find a safe haven? Includes an author's note.

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Promises to the Dead appropriate for a 7-year-old?

    A slave hunter attacks Jesse, kidnaps Perry and beats him, and the boys meet an armed skirmish and a riot during their journey. The boys are chased by a slave hunter through a dangerous, riot-torn setting, and a young reader calls it frightening and tense.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have violence?

    Found (Supporting): A slave hunter attacks Jesse, kidnaps Perry and beats him, and the boys meet an armed skirmish and a riot during their journey.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have scary content?

    Found (Supporting): The boys are chased by a slave hunter through a dangerous, riot-torn setting, and a young reader calls it frightening and tense.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have religion?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have race & culture?

    Found (Central): The story is about a white boy helping an enslaved Black boy escape slave hunters on the eve of the Civil War, and it deals with slavery and racism.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have profanity?

    Couldn't confirm: No source covers the book's language or lists swear words.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have climate?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have sexual content?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have gender roles?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

  • Does Promises to the Dead have gender & orientation?

    Not found in the sources we checked.

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