"Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom"

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Hyperion Books for Children, 2006
Picture Book- historical
Grade 3-6
Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award

The story begins with Harriet talking to God asking how she will get away from her master. When the night comes Harriet flees. Harriet travels at night and continues to ask God for guidance and to keep her safe during her escape. God always tells Harriet what to do and how to stay safe. When Harriet thinks she is too weak to continue on her journey, God always has encouragement for her and always protects her from the patrollers. When Harriet finally gets to the Promised Land, Philadelphia, Harriet wants to go back down south and free her people. God tells her to go down there and rescue them. This became known as teh Underground Railroad. When the free slaves sing praise to her she always makes sure to give credit to the Lord.

I had never read this book until now. I love it though. In today's society so many people are getting away from any form of literature that mentions God. I think this book is a great book. The text keeps the readers' attention through the way it alternates from regular print while they're telling the story, to italics when Harriet is talking to God, and then bigger, bolder, light-colored print when it is the Lord talking. The illustrations are remarkable. They are two-page spread pictures. The picture shows exactly what the text is explaining. I think illustrations are very important for younger kids, especially ages 5-8. The illustrations keep their attention and the illustrations are how the children can tell what is happening in the story.This book definitely deserved the Caldecott Honor because the illustrations are remarkable. The colors and the background of each picture is unique. You can tell the story just from the pictures. These particular pictures that Kadir Nelson uses are oil paintings. The pictures are very dark because Harriet Tubman could only travel at night. I love the picture that shows Harriet sitting on the ground and the reader can see how bad her feet look. They look so real and as if they are really bleeding. Once Harriet reaches freedom the pictures become bright and colorful. One of my favorite pictures is the last one that shows Harriet as a larger than life figure, which I believe she was! She was a hero to all the people she helped on the Underground Railroad.

This book would be a great book to use when you were doing a study on the Underground Railroad. I remember when I was in elementary school, we sang some of Harriet Tubman's songs. A music teacher could read this book to their students while she was teaching her students about the Underground Railroad. I think sometimes the Underground Railroad, as well as slavery, is a hard thing for younger children to comprehend. I think this book and the illustrations in this book will help students to see how the Underground Railroad worked. I also enjoyed the author's note because it told more information about Harriet Tubman and her life before, during, and after the Underground Railroad. The forward and afterward are both very important pages in this picture book. They provide information on slavery and the Underground Railroad as well as information on Harriet Tubman's life.