This unusual slice of U.S. history deals with Molly Walsh, the grandmother of famed African-American astronomer, Benjamin Banneker. In late 17th century England, 17-year-old Molly was accused of stealing milk from her landowner and was thus sentenced to seven years of bondage in the American colonies. At the end of her sentence, she started her own small farm and soon earned enough to enable her to purchase an African slave to help her, palnning to set him free once her land was cleared. He told her his name was Bannaky. Molly and Bannaky soon fell in love, married, and raised a family. The story of their success is carried through through the next two generations, as Molly lived long enough to teach her eldest grandson, Benjamin Banneker, to read and write English, and to tell him what she knew of his grandfather’s life in Africa. The dramatic realisitic watercolor paintings frequently use fire, candlelight or the setting sun as a light source in this 13 1/2 x 9 3/4" volume. (Ages 7-11)

Benjamin Bannaker, a renowned 18th century scientist, learned to read from his grandmother, Molly. His grandfather, Bannaky, was first purchased as a slave by Molly who vowed to set him free. Together they farmed, thrived, married, and had children and grandchildrenâ€"man accomplished life for resourceful Molly, who started as a dairymaid exiled for spilling the milk.

On a cold gray morning in 1683, Molly Walsh sat on a stool tugging at the udder of an obstinate cow. When she spilled the milk, she was brought before the court for stealing. Because she could read, Molly escaped the typicalpunishment of death on the gallows. At the age of seventeen, the English dairymaid was exiled from her country and sentenced to work as an indentured servant in British Colonial America. Molly worked for a planter in Maryland for seven long years. Then she was given an ox hitched to a cart, some supplies-and her freedom. That a lone woman should stake land was unheard of. That she would marry an African slave was even more so. Yet Molly prospered, and with her husband Bannaky, she turned a one-room cabin in the wilderness into a thriving one hundred-acre farm. And one day she had the pleasure of writing her new grandson's name in her cherished Bible: Benjamin Banneker.