Crafting a story that is beautifully written and impossible to put down, Lawrence Hill has written the female version of [Roots]. Taken from her family at the tender age of 11, Aminata Diallo survives the journey from Africa to the American colonies. Throughout the story, the main theme is the importance of recognizing the humanity and individuality of other captives, how the sharing of names acts as both a memorial to those who are lost and as an anchor to those who survive. Aminata's journey from freedom to slavery and back to freedom is difficult and often frightening and painful, but also full of hope. Aminata's courage and strength in the face of truly terrible circumstances is amazing. She uses her strength to survive and her intelligence to improve her situation and eventually becomes the 
 "face" of slavery for an abolitionist group who founds Sierra Leon. Highly recommended. 
 Quotes: 
 I remember wondering, within a year or two of taking my first steps, why only men sat to drink tea and converse, and why women were always busy. I reasoned that men were weak and needed rest. 
 The abolitionists may well call me their equal, but their lips do not yet say my name and their ears do not yet hear my story. Not the way I want to tell it. But I have long loved the written word, and come to see in it the power of the sleeping lion. This is my name. This is who I am. This is how I got here. In the absence of an audience, I will write down my story so that it waits like a restful beast with lungs breathing and heart beating.