Author/Illustrator: Carole Boston Weatherford/Kadir Nelson
Plot Summary: Told in a poetic prose, Harriet Tubman is first shown as a girl talking to God and trying to understand why she is enslaved. God "talks" back to her and gives her hope and courage to flee. She finds her way north, continuing her conversation with God along the way. Her difficult journey is revealed as well as the people who help her and places she hides. Unsatisfied with her own freedom, she journeys back south to bring her family as well as other slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.
Comments: Beautiful illustrations make the story come alive as well as explain what the Underground Railroad "looks like." I remember hearing about it as a child and not completlely understanding that it was not a subway system. The references to God were a little disconcerting and I wonder how much explaining one would have to do to children in a class. I guess it is better than references to Jesus. The author's note at the end provides historical data about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
Extensions:
1. Projects from http://www.tracievaughnzimmer.com/Moses.htm
Language Arts:
Write five questions you wish you could ask Harriet Tubman herself.
Math Brain Teasers:
How many miles did Harriet Tubman walk to gain her freedom? (in the author’s note)
- If there are 2,000 steps in every mile then how many steps did Harriet make?
- How many miles did Harriet travel if she made 19 trips back to the south?
- If the runaways need to make it in five days how many miles must they travel each day?
- Harriet is thought to have freed nearly 300 slaves. On average, how many slaves went with her each time?
Music:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/singers/sfeature/songs.html
The website features many of the slave spirituals that were popular during Harriet Tubman’s life.
Art:
Create a collage about freedom. Use any materials you like but explain your piece in a brief artist’s statement or journal. Why did you use the pictures, colors and textures that you did? What would Harriet Tubman think of your piece? How does art help people understand each other?
Additional project: 2. A very creative teacher or Media Specialist could dress up like Harriet Tubman and field questions and provide answers.
Age/reading level: Interest level - K-4: ATOS - 4.0; Follett - 3.8; Lexile - 660
GPS:
1. SS4H7 The student will examine the main ideas of the abolitionist and suffrage movements.
a. Discuss biographies of Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
2. ELA3R3 The student uses a variety of strategies to gain meaning from grade-level text.
ISBN: 0-7868-5175-9
Awards: Caldecott Honor Book - 2007, Coretta Scott King Book Award - Illustrations - 2007; NAACP Image Award; New York Times Bestseller
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Genre/Dewey: Picture book/historical fiction
Websites:
http://www.tracievaughnzimmer.com/Moses.htm
http://www.caroleweatherford.com/books.htm
Vocabulary: indigo, murmur, mortal, churn, sapling, groan
Comments