Connie Rose Porter

After the Civil War ends, Addy desperately hopes that her family will be reunited in freedom in Philadelphia, but the future may hold both happiness and heartache.

Addy and Harriet feud over everything, including fund-raising plans to help the families of freed slaves, but tragedy finally forces them to stop fighting and work together.

Addy and her mother forgo their Christmas plans to help the newly freed slaves arriving in Philadelphia during the Civil War. Addy Walker is a proud, courageous girl growing up in 1864, during the midst of the Civil War. Addy's stories tell of her daring escape with her mother from slavery, and the challenges they face afterward as they try to reunite their family. But Addy's stories are about much more than hardship. They are full of the love and...

After her brother joins the family in Philadelphia at the end of the Civil War, Addy wants to be with him as much as possible, so she is jealous when he starts spending time with her friend's cousin. Includes information about the life of African Americans in Philadelphia in the 1860s and a recipe for letter cookies.

Though her parents "jumped the broom" to get married when they were slaves, now that they are living free in Philadelphia after the Civil War they plan to have a church wedding and Addy works to complete a special quilt to give them as a wedding gift.

In 1866, eleven-year-old Addy and her family gather in Cape Island, later known as Cape May, New Jersey, where she encounters an impoverished white girl who treats her badly.

Addy's jubilation over her family's new freedoms is cut short by the news that President Lincoln has been shot and killed.