Henry's Freedom Box

By: Kadir Nelson (2011)

This story is about a boy named Henry that is a slave. His master dies and he thinks he is going to be set free, as is sometimes the case with slave masters that pass away, but he instead is given to his master's son. Henry is a hard worker that always does what he is told, but he misses his family. He eventually gets married and has three children, and he even has the privilege of living with his family, even though they are owned by another master. One day at work Henry finds out that his wife and kids have bee sold to another master in a different town. Devastated, Henry can barely find the strength the work anymore, as he greatly misses his family and realizes that he will probably never see them again. Henry then comes up with a plan to mail himself in a box up to Philadelphia, where they do not have slaves. With the help of a white man in the South who thinks that slavery is wrong, his plan is successful, though not very comfortable, and Henry becomes a free man.

I thought that this book, while it ultimately had a happy ending, was sad because of extremely difficult conditions that Henry, and millions of other slaves had to endure. This book did a good job of portraying the emotions that Henry had, both through the words and in the pictures. You could really see the hurt on Henry's face as his family was taken away, highlighting the great injustice of slavery.

I think that this book would have a great impact on elementary school students because of the powerful story that it tells. This would be a great story to read along with a unit on the Civil War because it makes the effects of slavery much more personal when told through the eyes of boy that could be as old as the students reading about him. This book would tell the story of these individuals in a way that students could understand. I also think that this book did a good job of subtly pointing out that not all white people in the South agreed with slavery. I think that this would help students realize that there were many different sides and opinions during this time period, and that those different opinions were not formed solely by the color of one's skin.