Ranger in Time: Long Road to Freedom (#3) by Kate Messner

My eight-year old son Daniel loves the Ranger in Time series.  Ranger is a time-traveling golden retriever.  He was trained as a search and rescue dog, but his natural love of squirrels made it so that he couldn’t complete and actually become a search and rescue dog.  He finds a first aid kit buried in his back yard and it transports him through time to help out kids.

In Long Road to Freedom, Ranger travels back to the 19^th century to a Maryland Plantation.  He meets two youngsters named Sarah and Jesse.  When Sarah discovered that Jesse will be sold to the Deep South, she decides it is time for the two siblings to escape to the north. Ranger is there to help the two travel safely along the Underground Railroad, although they discover that even when they think they are safe, they are not safe after all. 

I enjoyed this novel and Daniel did as well.  It tied in nicely with what he had been learning in school about the Underground Railroad.  He enjoyed the adventure while also questioning a world that enslaved its people and forced these two children to have such a perilous adventure.   Daniel also loves dogs so having a golden retriever as a protector and one of the main characters really intrigued him.  This is a good adventure series for kids to keep them entertained while also learning important history.

Book Source:  Daniel bought this book at his school’s Scholastic Book Fair.