Henry "Box" Brown

Title: Henry's Freedom Box
Author: Ellen Lavine
Biography

     This is a children's version of the partial biography of Henry "Box" Brown's life.  Henry was born a slave in Virginia.  He learned quickly about handwork and being torn from your family.  When he was young, his master died and gave Henry to his son to work in a tobacco factory.  Henry, taken from his family worked really hard for his new boss.  He met a girl named Nancy in the streets one day and they were eventually permitted to be married by their masters.  Fortunately they were allowed to live together with their children even thought they belonged to different people.  Then one day while Henry was at work, his wife and children were sold at a slave auction and taken away.  Henry was devastated as he watched the cart drive away with his family that he would never see again.  Finally he came up with a plan to get out of slavery and mail himself to freedom.  With help from a couple friends, Henry was loaded into a box and shipped to Philadelphia over twenty seven hours.  It was a cramped space and he was upside-down on his head for a portion of the ride, but every bit was worth the freedom to which he arrived at.  Now he had a freedom birth date and a middle name, "Box."
     I really enjoyed this book and think it would be great for children to learn about the Underground Railroad.  The illustrations are beautiful and really add to the amazing story.  It would definitely help students to get a new perspective on what it was like to be a slave and get to freedom through the Underground Railroad.  The last page of the book has more general background information about the Underground Railroad and Henry "Box" Brown.  It also includes a bibliography to cite the information presented.  I would really recommend this book for the classroom.