Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Published by:Hyperion Books for Children, 2006

Genre: Picture Book

Age Range: 2-3 grade

Caldecott Honor Book

Coretta Scott King Award Winner

This book is about Harriet Tubman and her escape from slavery. In the beginning she is thinking about running away and then the time comes. She steals away into the night and finds her way to people that can help her. She runs into many dangers, but she finally makes it to the North, to freedom. After spending some time there she decides she needs to use her life to help others and she returns to the south to help lead other slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

I really enjoyed how the author related Harriet's story through her spiritual journey. I loved how she showed Harriet's reliance on God and His provision. I know this part of the story can not be considered fact because we don't know exactly what Harriet thought, but I thought this element of the story made it even more powerful. I liked how God's words were written with the movable text, bigger and in different shapes that went along with the illustration.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful! They are so rich and expressive. One of my favorites is the one where three-fourths of the page is black and at the top are the warm oranges of dusk and the silhouette of the wagon. The illustrator does an amazing job of showing light which goes along well with the presence of God in this book. Throughout history God has been represented by light both in art and in writing. There are many places in the bible where Jesus or God is referred to as light. In Exodus God provided and was light many times for the Israelites to help them escape from Egypt. In this story Moses was a person God used to help free his people, this is the reference for Harriet Tubman's nickname, and the title of the book. Like Moses, God used Harriet to help free these people that he loved.

In an art classroom this book would be a good example of how light helps to shape an object and how the appearance of an object can change depending on where it is. Middle school is about the age where they start to learn how to draw to make things look 3 dimensional. To do this students must learn about and use value which is created by light. They must also learn how to understand light sources in order to portray light in art that they are creating from their imagination and not from something they can look at. Many times in art history the light source in a painting or drawing is that of the image of God or Jesus.

National Geographic's Underground Railroad- click here for an interesting, interactive way to learn about the Underground Railroad.

Some other places where God is referred to as light in the Bible:

-Isaiah 60:19-20

-John 8:12

-John 12:46

-2 Corinthians 4:6