Alec's Primer

An excellent multicultural book written by Mildred Pitts Walter is Alec’s Primer. It describes the life of a slave boy named Alec. He is poorly mistreated, yet his owner’s granddaughter befriends him and teaches him how to read. This girl, Zephie, gives Alec a book called a primer to assist his reading. Soon Alec hears about union soldiers coming to town to recruit slaves to fight for the north in the Civil War. Alec joins up and soon becomes a free man.

This book describes the life of Alec very well as a slave, and doesn’t try and sugar coat his life. It talks about how the boy is worked hard, physically abused, and threatened with death. However, I would highly recommend this book as it shows the compassion of Zephie and the power reading has. This book is great multicultural and historical fiction.