Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Weatherford, Carole Boston

A Newbery Honor Book

In a moving, lyrical tale about the cost and fragility of freedom, a New York Times best-selling author and an acclaimed artist follow the life of a man who courageously shipped himself out of slavery.

What have I to fear?
My master broke every promise to me.
I lost my beloved wife and our dear children.
All, sold South. Neither my time nor my body is mine.
The breath of life is all I have to lose.
And bondage is suffocating me.

Henry Brown wrote that long before he came to be known as Box, he "entered the world a slave." He was put to work as a child and passed down from one generation to the next -- as property. When he was an adult, his wife and children were sold away from him out of spite. Henry Brown watched as his family left bound in chains, headed to the deeper South. What more could be taken from him? But then hope -- and help -- came in the form of the Underground Railroad. Escape!

In stanzas of six lines each, each line representing one side of a box, celebrated poet Carole Boston Weatherford powerfully narrates Henry Brown's story of how he came to send himself in a box from slavery to freedom. Strikingly illustrated in rich hues and patterns by artist Michele Wood, Box is augmented with historical records and an introductory excerpt from Henry's own writing as well as a time line, notes from the author and illustrator, and a bibliography.

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 04/14/2020
Pages: 56
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.26lbs
Size: 9.25h x 11.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780763691561
Age Range: 10-UP

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.3
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 509048 / Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom

Award: Newbery Medal - Honor Book

Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 02/01/2020 pg. 90
Publishers Weekly 01/27/2020
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2020 pg. 157
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2020 pg. 107
Booklist 04/15/2020 pg. 43
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2020 - Book Of Special Distinction
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2020 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

About the Author
Carole Boston Weatherford, a New York Times best-selling author and poet, was named the 2019 Washington Post Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award winner. Her numerous books for children include the Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, illustrated by Floyd Cooper; the Caldecott Honor Books Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, which was also a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; and the critically acclaimed Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, illustrated by Eric Velasquez. Carole Boston Weatherford lives in North Carolina.

Michele Wood is an illustrator, painter, filmmaker, and designer with a master's in divinity from Christian Theological Seminary. She has won numerous awards for her illustration work, including a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, as well as a nomination for an NAACP Image Award. Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom is her first book with Candlewick Press. She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.