Send One Angel Down

First-time author Schwartz fictionalizes a snippet of oral history to create this rambling, unconvincing tale. Abram is only six when his cousin, Eliza, named for Abram's dead mother, is born on an Alabama plantation in 1846. He and her mother, Aunt Charity, a ""breeding slave,"" know that Eliza is special (two crows flew overhead at the moment of her birth, a sure sign of good luck). But as blue-eyed, light-skinned Eliza grows from a child into a young woman, she provokes the jealousy of Miss Abigail, the master's eldest daughter, who realizes sooner than Eliza does that the two share the same father. Abram narrates the novel, which spans 14 years; the pacing has a drawn-out, disjointed feel, and the dialogue lacks credibility (e.g., when a New York abolitionist buys Eliza on the auction block, then sets her free, she says, ""But sir what will I do now? Where will I go?"" He responds, ""There must be some freed slaves living in town . Go there. Get a job""). Schwartz uses folksongs, worksongs, lullabies and spirituals to evoke the inner lives of the characters, but this technique can't compensate for the sketchy character development. Young readers would do better to consult the inspiration for this novel, a story in Julius Lester's To Be a Slave. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)