Book Review: Mozay of Pepperwick

Mozay of Pepperwick

by Jean Perry

Bookbaby

Historical Fiction | Middle Grade

Pub Date 07 May 2021

I am reviewing a copy of Mozart of Pepperwick through Bookbaby and Netgalley:

The year is 1853 at Pepperwick, the largest rice plantation in South Carolina, when all the slaves, field hands and house servants, are called out to watch. Storyteller Old George, whose tales remind them of their lives before captivity, is caged and buried in wood chips up to his neck.

Mozay is a fifteen year old educated slave companion and servant to Clarence Little, the rice planter’s son, stands with the other boys. With only a look from Old George, Mozay receives a mystical message:

YOU ARE WORTHY OF FREEDOM AND SO ARE ALL.

At that moment Mozay makes up his mind to escape and in freedom to teach others to read and write. The cage is set on fire.

The problem is Mozay is more a dreamer than doer. When he does take action, he’s impulsive and hasn’t thought things through. The only educated black boy at Pepperwick he has no friends to share ideas with and receives no encouragement from peers to pursue a future outside the plantation. Without support a year passes before he acts on the…