Henry's Freedom Box by Levine, Kadir Nelson (Illustrator)

From Barnes & Noble

Kadir Nelson's hauntingly beautiful images for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom netted him a 2007 Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. Now the artist teams with children's author Ellen Levine to re-create another tale from Tubman's time: the amazing true story of Henry "Box" Brown, a runaway slave from Virginia who "mailed himself to freedom" in a cramped wooden crate. Although the cruelties of slavery and the sad events of Henry's life may prove too intense for the youngest readers, grade-schoolers with some knowledge of American history will thrill to this astonishing tale of bravery, ingenuity, and the indomitable strength of the human spirit.

From the Publisher

Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. When Henry grows up and marries, he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: He will mail himself to the North. After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday -- his first day of freedom.

Publishers Weekly

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 heartwrenching 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.)

Children's Literature

This true story of one escaped slave, Henry Brown, is simply and movingly told by Ellen Levine, author of several critically acclaimed books about episodes of social injustice (e.g., A Fence Away from Freedom, Freedom's Children, and Darkness over Denmark). When he was still a young boy, Henry was separated from his family at the whim of his master, and longed to be as free and happy as he imagined the birds were. As an adult, Henry once again lost his family when his wife and three children were sold off while he was at work. All the joy was gone from life and he was prepared to take desperate measures to escape. With the help of a local physician opposed to slavery, Henry was nailed into a wooden crate and shipped from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia—a grueling 27 hour journey—where he was released from the box and his slavery. Afterwards the story of Henry "Box" Brown's daring escape was used to help raise money for abolitionist efforts. Levine's narrative is richly enhanced by the masterful watercolor, oil, and pencil illustrations of Kadir Nelson, also a previous award recipient (e.g., Ellington was not a Street, and Thunder Rose). The full two-page spreads, often of small details, like the "THIS SIDE UP" label on the shipping crate, add visual power and immediacy to the text. A brief historical note about the Underground Railroad is provided at the end of the book along with a short bibliography for further reading. This is a very personal account of the injustice of slavery that will surely provoke curious students to learn more about the Underground Railroad, Henry Brown, and slavery in general.

Catherine ThreadgillCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Gr 2–5
Inspired by an actual 1830s lithograph, this beautifully crafted picture book briefly relates the story of Henry "Box" Brown's daring escape from slavery. Torn from his mother as a child, and then forcibly separated from his wife and children as an adult, a heartsick and desperate Brown conspired with abolitionists and successfully traveled north to Philadelphia in a packing crate. His journey took just over one full day, during which he was often sideways or upside down in a wooden crate large enough to hold him, but small enough not to betray its contents. The story ends with a reimagining of the lithograph that inspired it, in which Henry Brown emerges from his unhappy confinement—in every sense of the word—and smiles upon his arrival in a comfortable Pennsylvania parlor. Particularly considering the broad scope of Levine's otherwise well-written story, some of the ancillary "facts" related in her text are unnecessarily dubious; reports vary, for instance, as to whether the man who sealed Henry into the crate was a doctor or a cobbler. And, while the text places Henry's arrival on March 30, other sources claim March 24 or 25. Nelson's illustrations, always powerful and nuanced, depict the evolution of a self-possessed child into a determined and fearless young man. While some of the specifics are unfortunately questionable, this book solidly conveys the generalities of Henry Brown's story.

Kirkus Reviews

Nelson's powerful portraits add a majestic element to Levine's history-based tale of Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who escaped by having himself mailed to freedom in a crate. Depicted as a solemn boy with an arresting gaze on the cover, Henry displays riveting presence in every successive scene, as he grows from child to adult, marries and is impelled to make his escape after seeing his beloved wife and children sold to slaveowners. Related in measured, sonorous prose that makes a perfect match for the art, this is a story of pride and ingenuity that will leave readers profoundly moved, especially those who may have been tantalized by the entry on Brown in Virginia Hamilton's Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom (1993). (afterword, reading list) (Picture book. 8-10)

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