I chose this book to read because we have an upcoming Civil War/Underground Railroad unit and I thought it would be a great addition. Ellen Levine, author of this book along with Freedom's Children and Darkness Over Denmark, has always been drawn to stories of people who struggled for justice or just ordinary people who did extraordinary things. She stumbled upon this story while reading a book published about the Underground Railroad. She had an idea to take Henry "Box" Brown's story and tell it to children all over the world.
I enjoyed reading this book and can not wait to share it with my students. At first I thought it might be a bit scary for fourth graders because it is a true story and illustrates the horrors families in slavery faced. Yet she also includes how these slave families longed to love and grow together just like our families do today, and in the end Henry finds his free life. This book allows children to understand the horrific things slaves went through during their lives and closes with a message that all of us - red, yellow, black and white deserve to be free.
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