Henry’s Freedom Box

Henry’s Freedom Box

Title: Henry’s Freedom Box

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Ellen Levine

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Awards: Caldecott medal

Age group: 7-12 year olds

This book is about a man named Henry who goes through a roller coaster of emotions and challenges being a slave in the 1800’s. Though, thankfully this is a story with a happy ending.

Summary:

Henry lived on his master’s farm with his brothers and sisters, at the time he believed his master was good to him, but his mother knew that could change. When his master fell ill he was told he be given to his son and he had to say goodbye to his family. Henry then worked in his new master’s factory and it wasn’t the greatest. Then one day Henry met Nancy and he fell in love and they were married and then had some children. Henry felt so lucky, but his wife was scared that her master would sell their children. Then one day while he was working his friend told him that his children and wife were just sold at the slave market, at lunch time he ran to them but it was too late and he watched his family disappear. Henry was very sad. But then he thought of an idea, he would mail himself in a box to a place where there were no slaves. With help from a white man, who didn’t like slavery, he set this plan in motion. Henry would be mailed to friends in Philadelphia. Though to sneak out of work he had to get hurt so he burned his hand. Then the day came and he got in the box. At one point the box was turned upside down but some men fixed it to right side. Henry then awoke to his friends in Philadelphia, and at last Henry had a birthday, the day of his freedom and from then on everyone called him Henry “Box” Brown.

I believe I would use this book in my classroom because it is a good book to use when teaching about slavery and how slaves lived.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book is 2nd -5th grade because this topic is a very important, yet is a sensitive topic that might be harder for the younger children to understand if they have not already learned about the subject. This book has very little text to a page and is easy to read; it also has great illustrations that help the reader really visualize the story.

I would use this book in a unit about the history of slavery and the hardships that slaves went through so that the students will better understand what it was like in that time period.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy