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Good Fortune

About The Book

In the tradition of Copper Sun and Chains, this is the stirring tale of a girl’s journey from Africa to freedom and from youth to womanhood, as recounted in this dazzling debut novel.

Ayanna Bahati lives in a small African village when she is brutally kidnapped, along with her brother, and forced onto a slave ship to America. As Ayanna, renamed Anna, rises from the cotton fields to the master’s house, she finds the familial love she’s been yearning for in elderly Mary and Mary’s son Daniel—but she is also faced with more threats to her survival.

Risking everything to escape the plantation, Anna manages to make it north and to freedom, eventually settling in the free black community of Hudson, Ohio, and educating herself to become a teacher.

About The Author

Photograph courtesy of the author

Noni Carter is a Harvard University graduate who enjoys writing, music and tennis. Noni lives in Georgia with her parents, two younger sisters, and an older brother. Good Fortune is her first novel.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (January 4, 2011)
  • Length: 496 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416984818
  • Grades: 7 and up
  • Ages: 12 - 99
  • Lexile ® 760L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®

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Awards and Honors

  • Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner

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