If I Just Had Two Wings

Born on a plantation in Alabama, thirteen-year-old Phoebe, has always dreamed of leaving her life as a slave behind. She has heard whispering about a secret path to freedom, but doesn't think about her own escape until she starts picking cotton next to a strong young woman named Liney.One night, Phoebe, Liney, and Liney's two young daughters decide they can wait no longer, and they run away under the cover of darkness. Following clues in the songs and stories they have heard for years, they elude the man who enslaved them and reach the first stop on the underground railroad. There, they find Jake, a young man who escaped from their plantation earlier that night. They decide that it would be safest to travel together on the treacherous journey north.Chased across the country by slave catchers, the group finds refuge in the homes and barns of the kind-hearted conductors along the route. Phoebe motivates the others with her dreams of freedom, and she and Jake begin to fall in love.They finally reach Canada, having survived separation, severe illness, and the harsh cold of the North. As Phoebe runs across the white, frozen land, she feels her feet lift from the ground. She has flown to freedom at last, just as she has always dreamed.