Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Summary:
Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. His entire life he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is taken from his family and made to work in a warehouse. When Henry grows up and get married, he is devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. One day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he decides what he should do. He decides to mail himself to the North. After very hard journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday. He celebrates his first day of freedom.
Read it Again?
Yes, this book was great. It did a great job of depicting what happened to slaves. It was really heart wrenching when Henry's family was sold at the slave market. This was a great example of the underground railroad.
Library Use:
I would use this book in Black History Month as well. It is also a great book that helps teach about slavery and what people went through before slavery was abolished. The kids will really enjoy how Henry got in the book and shipped himself to the North.
Reviews:
Although the cover shows a young boy staring intently at the reader, this book is really about Henry Brown as an adult and a staggering decision he made to achieve freedom. Henry, born a slave, hears from his mother that leaves blowing in the wind are torn from the trees like slave children are torn from their families. When his master grows ill, Henry hopes that he will be freed; instead, he is given to his master's son, and his life becomes worse. Eventually, Henry marries and has children; then his family is sold. With nothing left to lose, he asks a white abolitionist to pack him in a crate so he can be mailed to freedom. The journey is fraught with danger as he travels by train and then steamboat, but 27 hours later, he reaches Philadelphia. A brief author's note confirms the details of the story, but it's the dramatic artwork that brings the events emphatically to life. According to the flap copy, an antique lithograph of Brown inspired Nelson's paintings, which use crosshatched pencil lines layered with watercolors and oil paints. The technique adds a certain look of age to the art and also gives the pictures the heft they need to visualize Brown's life. Transcending technique is the humanity Nelson imbues in his characters, especially Brown and his mother--her dream of freedom deferred, his amazingly achieved. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2007 Booklist |
Publisher's Weekly 1/1/2007 |
Levine (Freedom's Children) recounts the true story of Henry Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom. Thanks to Nelson's (Ellington Was Not a Street) penetrating portraits, readers will feel as if they can experience Henry's thoughts and feelings as he matures through unthinkable adversity. As a boy, separated from his mother, he goes to work in his new master's tobacco factory and eventually meets and marries another slave, with whom he has three children. In a heart wrenching scene depicted in a dramatically shaded pencil, watercolor and oil illustration, Henry watches as his family-suddenly sold in the slave market-disappears down the road. Henry then enlists the help of an abolitionist doctor and mails himself in a wooden crate "to a place where there are no slaves!" He travels by horse-drawn cart, steamboat and train before his box is delivered to the Philadelphia address of the doctor's friends on March 30, 1849. Alongside Henry's anguished thoughts en route, Nelson's clever cutaway images reveal the man in his cramped quarters (at times upside-down). A concluding note provides answers to questions that readers may wish had been integrated into the story line, such as where did Henry begin his journey? (Richmond, Va.); how long did it take? (27 hours). Readers never learn about Henry's life as a free man-or, perhaps unavoidably, whether he was ever reunited with his family. Still, these powerful illustrations will make readers feel as if they have gained insight into a resourceful man and his extraordinary story. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
References:
www.mackin.com
Bibliography:
Levine, E. (2007). Henry's Freedom Box. New York: Scholastic Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment