henry's freedom box. ellen levine. kadir nelson.

i purchased henry's freedom box from the beale library book sale.  i bought it because it was a caldecott winner and only 50 cents. in retrospect, i feel that the library should have charged more for it.

i didn't read it immediately and then while coming across it while packing, decided to save it to read for black history month.

it is a beautiful story based on the actual events of henry "box" brown's escape to the north.  i had never heard of brown prior to this book and was impressed yet sadden by the risk he took for freedom.

the book opened with henry as a child, not knowing his age because he was a slave.  his master died and he was separated from his family.  with his new master, he found a wife and they had children.  then one day, his wife and children were sold.  henry was devastated and decided to escape to freedom in the north.  his plan was to mail himself.  thankfully his plan was successful and he made it to philadelphia.  his first day of freedom then became his birthday.

the afterword explained in that brown mailed himself from richmond, virginia and his journey was twenty-seven hours.  his story was shared in newspapers in europe and america. it amazed me that his plan worked, it seemed too outrageous but then again any risk is worth it if the end result is freedom.

although it ends with henry gaining freedom, i was still sadden by the fact that brown had lost his family.  henry lost not only his wife and children but his mother and siblings as well.  it still saddens and outrages me that  slaveowners could take separate child and parent without an remorse.  it is so cruel and inhumane.

i was appreciative that the book shed light on the dividing of the family unit.  it included many aspects of slavery, even though a children's novel, henry's freedom box gave an honest portrayal of slavery.  it did not shy away from the mention of abusiveness and violence of slaveowners.  and interesting enough, many of the themes presented reminded me of the toni morrison beloved.  in beloved, the division is family is the cause for their escape to freedom.  also henry's admiration of the free bird he saw on the day he left his mother reminded me of the envy of the rooster's freedom from beloved, both demonstrating the low status of slaves.  another theme that the book did not ignore was the willingness of slaves to harm themselves in

hopes of freedom.  henry burning his hand to help him escape, and the act of

running away itself.  slavery diminished the human spirit so individuals did all they could to be free and to feel and be treated as human.  

i all got all this from it and though i did not go into as deep a conversation with my brother when we read this, we did discuss some of the themes.  he enjoyed the book because it a a great story.  but it also brought up some questions about slavery on his end, which we discussed. and this is why henry's freedom box is a great story, it is an engaging story but provokes kids to think about slavery in a different way than just something they learn about in school.

oh and as mentioned before, this is a caldecott medal winner, here are my favorite illustrations: