Two By Three By Two And A Half Feet

Meeting a person from the past for the first time in a children's picture book is a gift to be enjoyed and shared.  When this person has an astonishing accomplishment attached to their life, it makes this encounter even more relevant.  Your sense of gratitude to the author and illustrator for this book, for their work on this book, is enormous.

My first lasting memory of Henry Box Brown is when I read Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad (Scholastic Press, January 1, 2007) written by Ellen Levine with illustrations by Kadir Nelson.  Kadir Nelson was awarded a Caldecott Honor award in 2008 for his masterful use of pencil, watercolor, and oil in his artwork.  My next unforgettable introduction to this remarkable human being is in Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself To Freedom (Candlewick Press, April 14, 2020) written by Carole Boston Weatherford with illustrations by Michele Wood. You cannot read the words in these narrative six-line poems and look at these pieces of artwork without pausing at each one, visibly moved.

The book begins with powerful words written by Henry Box Brown from his Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown.  They speak of him born into slavery in a land which has documented all are to have lives of liberty.  In the first poem

WIND
As autumn breeze blows maple leaves
While I sit on my mother's lap.
Slavery is a cruel wind, she says,
Sweeping children away from parents,
Scattering families far and wide.
She shivers and holds me close.

the words of Henry Box Brown are echoed.  The accompanying illustration to this and the next poem, WORK, is a stunning scene of Henry, his mother and another brother, together beneath tree branches with drifting autumn leaves.

Cruelty delivered to other blacks on other plantations are told to Henry and his brothers.  By the time he is fifteen, Henry is taken from his family to work in a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia.  Here, among lots of people, evidence of slavery is seen everywhere.  Henry speaks of Nat Turner, rules, written and unwritten, and horrible beatings by factory overseers.  We learn of the planting, harvesting and delivery of tobacco, and of the discovery of brightleaf by an enslaved blacksmith, Stephen, in 1839.

Joy comes into Henry's life with his wife Nancy and their children, but it is not easy for them.  The constant fear of permanent separation hangs over them.  Nancy and the children are sold more than once but Henry figures out a way to have them near him.  He does so more than once.  A fourth child will soon be born.  Henry looks at Richmond, a hub of transportation, and dreams of freedom.  In an act of heinous inhumanity, Nancy and the children are taken to be sold.

Henry finds solace in his church and with friends.  Softly spoken words of an underground railroad give Henry courage to form a plan.  Again, trusted men assist Henry.  Henry is now inside a box three feet long, two feet wide and a little more than two and a half feet deep.

Unfortunately, as the box is moved from one form of transportation to another, the movers fail to observe This Side Up written on the side of the box.  At one point, Henry faints from the pain of his body pushing against his head.  After more than twenty-seven hours, Henry is a free man.

In the subsequent years, Henry deals with the dilemma of finding and buying freedom for his wife and children.  Henry wants his story to be shared, but in the midst of his panorama presentations he must leave the United States to save his life.  In England Henry shifts his persona in performances involving magic.  Happiness descends on Henry again and after twenty-five years he returns to North America to live out his life.


It's Henry's voice in these poems written with meticulous care and research by Carole Boston Weatherford that pierces your soul with their clarity.  All the poems, with the exception of one with six words, have six lines.  This is done with intention by Carole Boston Weatherford as a reflection of the six sides of a box.  The inclusion of special details gives readers a real, sensory portrait of Henry's life.  Here is another poem.

HEAVEN
For one last glimpse of my loved ones, I watch
The slave chain pass, bound for North Carolina.
Father! Father! my child yells from a wagon.
I see my wife, grab her hand, and walk four miles with her.
We shall meet in heaven, I whisper.  Then she is gone.
Lord, what more have I to lose?


The design and layout of the open and matching dust jacket and book case depict the confines of Henry's life and his success at freedom.  Each of the four featured images represents a critical point in his journey.  In an illustrator's note Michele Wood says:

The palette I chose includes blue, green, pink, red, and neutrals, which are colors of the 1800s.

To the left, on the back of the jacket and case, a rich deep, almost purple blue, provides a canvas.  In the center a black rectangle is a place for one of the poems.  Within the pages its title, not shown here, is COURAGE.

The opening and closing endpapers are black. The first poem of six words forms the number six and is titled GEOMETRY.  It appears prior to the title page and an illustration of Henry, as an adult, on the left.  This particular illustration is formed from smaller box shapes.

The illustrations, single-page pictures, framed and unframed, single and portions of the next page visuals, and vertical panels rendered in mixed media transport readers into a heart-wrenching past, but also supply us with hope held in a multitude of hearts.  Each image is layered with textures, color and emotion found in facial features and body postures.  Every detail holds meaning.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when Nancy and Henry know they are spending their last moments together.  It is in the interior of their home.  Blue is used prominently.  Henry, on the right, is bent and holding his wife.  Nancy, on his left, is reaching into his embrace, arms wrapped around him.  Her dress flows behind her in a quilt-like pattern of checks in cream and others with a white flower on blue.  Two windows, like stained-glass, showcase symbolic elements.  Both Henry and Nancy have their eyes closed to hold in the memory of this moment.


This book, Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself To Freedom written by Carole Boston Weatherford with illustrations by Michele Wood, is a book to be widely read and often.  These poems and artwork are an impressive achievement in conveying not only a single life, but the time in which it was lived. At the close of the book are pages titled:  Timeline, Bibliography, A Note From The Illustrator and A Note On Numbers And Language.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Carole Boston Weatherford and Michele Wood and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names.  Carole Boston Weatherford has accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  Michele Wood has an account on Twitter.  Michele Wood is featured on author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Candlewick Press has designed a Teacher Tip Card linked here.  At Penguin Random House you can view interior pages.  I encourage you to take a few moments to listen to Carole Boston Weatherford reading a poem from this title.



Update:  This video was released on June 19, 2020.  The illustrator speaks about the book.

The Triumphs Of Two

Throughout history single names rise to the top for their impact on the course of events.  These individuals become beacons for others with like beliefs.  They are colleagues in a common cause.

In 1904 a women's suffrage convention is held in Rochester, New York.  In attendance is Harriet Tubman.  Susan B. Anthony is to be a speaker.  In a surprise move, but surely not to her, Susan B. Anthony introduces Harriet Tubman inviting her to speak.  Chasing Freedom:  The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman And Susan B. Anthony Inspired By Historical Facts (Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., January 6, 2015), written by Nikki Grimes with illustrations by Michele Wood, imagines a conversation between these two legendary women prior to the start of the convention.

That November afternoon, there was a rap at Susan's front door.  Susan finished lacing up her shoes, then crossed the parlor in the staccato rhythm of one who's got places to go.  Were it not for an abundance of white hair, you'd never know how many years she'd been on this earth, how many lives she'd lived.  But there was one who could count them, one whose stories were river deep.
Susan reached the door, swung it wide, and smiled.
"Harriet!" ...

Following this opening, introductory conversation twenty more single entries are brimming with memories as these larger-than-life figures recount their life accomplishments and adventures.  They each reveal the journeys taken to this particular year.  We learn vital information about significant points in history which defined their lives.

Frustrated and angered with the unequal treatment of females employed as teachers, Susan leaves the profession in 1849 to champion women's rights.  It is like the voice of the Lord speaks to Harriet urging her to help others to freedom once she is free.  She first wants to help her niece before she is sold again.

Due to the attendance of abolitionists at Sunday family dinners, Susan is well aware of the struggles to free the slaves.  She is initially drawn to free women from the evils bestowed upon them by men, husbands, who drink too much alcohol.  Sad in the depths of her soul, Harriet learns her husband has taken a new wife, instead she returns North with eleven others seeking freedom.

Encouragement from a family known for taking a stand Susan begins speaking out in favor of temperance.  Knowing she too has been called into service by the Almighty, Harriet makes one journey after another from Philadelphia to Maryland saving as many as she can, praying when danger is near.  Susan recalls hearing how an angel is guarding Harriet.

Susan adds her voice to the Teachers' Convention for more than ten years causing a major commotion at first.  Although she does not count herself as a public speaker, Harriet spins stories of her rescues remembering every single moment.  These stories prompt others to join her Underground Railroad movement especially with monetary support.

In remembering many trips, Harriet thinks back on a particularly fearful encounter with slave dealers.  The work for which she is most remembered moves to the forefront in the winter of 1854 to 1855 for Susan.  Bitter cold and drifts double her height do not deter this woman in seeking the vote.  Both women have stories tying them to staunch abolitionist John Brown and his fall at Harper's Ferry.

By the year 1860 Harriet Tubman has a bounty on her head.  Bowing to the pleas of family she completes one final trip bringing a couple to Canada.  Often ridiculed for not being married and being childless, Susan nevertheless makes great strides for women in 1860.  In the following year both women are as committed as ever to fight for the slaves' freedom against tremendous odds and neither will be stopped.

A bitter battle during the war with Harriet serving as a nurse, cook and spy brings to light a little known fact.  Susan calls to mind the battles being fought at home for emancipation; a horrible time with wild conditions in the city.  At the close of their visit both know more work is to be done for those you cannot do it themselves.  These women do not rest.


Time after time in the reading of these twenty-one lyrical compositions, readers will find themselves stopping to enjoy the use of language by Nikki Grimes.  Images created by her words bring you into the emotional mood of those recalled moments.  The final words on one page connect to the first words on the next page, flowing flawlessly.  By weaving dialogue and narrative together she fashions a tapestry of living history for us.  By adding intimate details of them drinking tea, the chill in the room and the building of a fire, we are there with them, listening.  Here are some more sample passages.

"I joined the Daughters of Temperance, if not to end all imbibing of strong drink, then at least to win protection for the women and children it harmed."
"Lord knows, it's our hearts that drive us!" said Harriet.

Harriet closed her eyes for a moment.  When she opened them again, her focus seemed as locked in the past as the story she was telling, but then she blinked a few times and she was back.  

"To change things," said Harriet.
"Yes," said Susan, "and to make them better."
"Looks like the Lord made us both servants," said Harriet.  "We just had different assignments."


From the moment you unfold the matching dust jacket and book case you step back in time.  The portraits of both women at different ages framing the title are seen again inside the book.  On the back, in the same golden yellow as the line framing the title on the front, serving as a background, the title words are enlarged and repeated in rows in a shiny white.

Smaller depictions of the women in rows are patterned on the opening and closing endpapers.  As part of a two-page title page, the women are portrayed facing one another as they would have been in 1904.  Single page paintings rendered in acrylic and oil by illustrator Michele Wood are featured opposite each essay.  Wood includes delicate scroll work along the top and bottom of each two pages.  Even numbered pages are noted on the left at the bottom in a background taken from the following image.

Each element of these paintings is pieced together like fabric on a quilt; like a treasured family heirloom.  It's the faces of these two women and those people in their lives which draw us into the pictures.  Many of them are charged with emotion.

One of my two favorite illustrations is of Susan B. Anthony during the winter of 1854-1855 when she is soliciting signatures for petitions for women's suffrage.  The look of resolve on her face as she faces us standing in the snowy weather ignites courage.  The visual of Harriet holding a solider (Frederick Douglas's son, Lewis) is moving.  Another wounded man is resting nearby.   Although the three are on grass, behind them is a quilt with important pieces in it.


Chasing Freedom:  The Life Journeys Of Harriet Tubman And Susan B. Anthony Inspired By Historical Facts written by Nikki Grimes with illustrations by Michele Wood is an accounting which will reach into your soul.  These are the kind of stories which make historical names real people, bringing their lives into the here and now.  Their deeds and dedication will inspire many for years to come.  Extensive Biographies, Additional Notes, Bibliography and Author's Note complete the title.

To explore more about Nikki Grimes and Michele Wood and their other work please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  For a unit of study on Nikki Grimes, including this title, follow this link.


I am using this book for my selection for this week's 2015 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy.  Although the hours of conversation between the two women are fictional, they are heavily based upon facts gathered by the author.  I encourage everyone to read this and make it a part of their personal and professional book collections.