Henry's Freedom Box
Author: Ellen Levine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Year of Publication: 2007
Genre: Historical- Fiction, Slavery-Underground Railroad
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Hornbook Rating of a 2 & Kirkus Starred Review.
Summary: Henry’s Freedom Box is a breathtaking picture book about a slave named Henry and the process of the Underground Railroad. In the beginning of the story Henry is traded to a new master since he is a slave. During this process Henry has to leave his family and move to a new house. After moving to a new house Henry meets his wife and they have children together. A little while after this his family was taken from him and he was extremely sad. Shortly after this tragedy Henry met a man who helped him escape to freedom. Henry hid inside a wooden box and decided to mail himself to the North. He was shipped to Pennsylvania by a train and a steamboat.
Summary of Professional Reviews: According to Horn book Reviews, Henry’s Freedom Box received a rating of a 2 and also a Kirkus starred review. The review gives a brief description of the book and about the author and illustrator. It also emphasizes on the illustrations and language used in this astonishing picture book. Horn book states that there is no “ sugarcoating but the conclusion is moving a satisfying”.
Review by Sasha Ishak: Henry’s Freedom box is a wonderful story that touches any reader. The underlying message of the book which is the Underground Railroad helps the reader understand the strong affect of this on African Americans during this time period. The illustrations are breathtaking and extremely touching. They make the reader feel as though they are apart of Henry’s journey, and this makes the book more personable. They show a great deal of emotions through illustrations of each and every character especially Henry. The word choice used by Levine provides the reader with a sense of sensitivity while reading this book. All of the emotions presented in the book help the reader truly understand Henry and his character. The plot of the story is how Henry can escape slavery, and he indeed does escape. Even though the book has a happy ending, that doesn’t make the rest of it happy. Levine changes the mood in the book from sad, to somber, to happy, back to sad. It changes throughout the book keeping the reader entertained, and most importantly connected. The written text along with the illustrations together make a compelling story about a young mans journey to freedom.
This book would be useful when teaching...
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Year of Publication: 2007
Genre: Historical- Fiction, Slavery-Underground Railroad
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Hornbook Rating of a 2 & Kirkus Starred Review.
Summary: Henry’s Freedom Box is a breathtaking picture book about a slave named Henry and the process of the Underground Railroad. In the beginning of the story Henry is traded to a new master since he is a slave. During this process Henry has to leave his family and move to a new house. After moving to a new house Henry meets his wife and they have children together. A little while after this his family was taken from him and he was extremely sad. Shortly after this tragedy Henry met a man who helped him escape to freedom. Henry hid inside a wooden box and decided to mail himself to the North. He was shipped to Pennsylvania by a train and a steamboat.
Summary of Professional Reviews: According to Horn book Reviews, Henry’s Freedom Box received a rating of a 2 and also a Kirkus starred review. The review gives a brief description of the book and about the author and illustrator. It also emphasizes on the illustrations and language used in this astonishing picture book. Horn book states that there is no “ sugarcoating but the conclusion is moving a satisfying”.
Review by Sasha Ishak: Henry’s Freedom box is a wonderful story that touches any reader. The underlying message of the book which is the Underground Railroad helps the reader understand the strong affect of this on African Americans during this time period. The illustrations are breathtaking and extremely touching. They make the reader feel as though they are apart of Henry’s journey, and this makes the book more personable. They show a great deal of emotions through illustrations of each and every character especially Henry. The word choice used by Levine provides the reader with a sense of sensitivity while reading this book. All of the emotions presented in the book help the reader truly understand Henry and his character. The plot of the story is how Henry can escape slavery, and he indeed does escape. Even though the book has a happy ending, that doesn’t make the rest of it happy. Levine changes the mood in the book from sad, to somber, to happy, back to sad. It changes throughout the book keeping the reader entertained, and most importantly connected. The written text along with the illustrations together make a compelling story about a young mans journey to freedom.
This book would be useful when teaching...
- Henry's Freedom Box can be used in a Language Arts lesson as a writing lesson. The teacher can first read the book to the students as a read aloud, discussing the important part of the story. Focussing on Henry’s emotions throughout the story is a major part of this lesson as well. After the students have read and understood the book the teacher can have the students create their own escape route just as Henry did. The students must write out their escape route and they must draw an illustration to go along with it as well. They will create this exercise in a first - person narrative to capture the readers attention just as Henry did.