If it weren't for the courage of a brave band of singers and a girl named Ella, beloved spirituals like "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" might have been lost forever...

Ella Sheppard was born into slavery, but no one could chain her voice.  At the end of the Civil War, with an unquenchable thirst for learning, she enrolls in Fisk School, one of the few schools that has opened its doors to blacks.  But Fisk desperately needs money, and will close unless Ella and the school's chorus can earn enough on tour to save it.

So Ella and her friends sing, day after day, songs that fail to move them or their dwindling white audiences.  Their cause seems hopeless until Ella, in despair, searches her heart.  And it is there she finds their salvation:  They will sing songs from slavery days, songs of sorrow, hope, and freedom that have the power to move listeners to tears.

This story, inspired by the Jubilee Singers—the most important black singing group of the last century—is eloquently re-created by Deborah Hopkinson in harmony with Raul Colon's soulful illustrations.

From the dust jacket