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Summary
Summary
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 Notes
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.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A powerful assortment of colors, textures, and artistic styles illustrate this true story of how Henry "Box" Brown escaped enslavement in 1849 via a harrowing journey inside a sealed crate. "Inside/ One/ Box/ To/ Flee/ Another," explains one of the more than 50 short poems that comprise this vivid account. Told in Brown's voice, all but one contain six lines: the number of sides in a cube. Weatherford (The Roots of Rap) bases often-lyrical free verse on Brown's own narrative, excerpted in the opening spread. Detailed stanzas, each beginning with a single descriptive term, touch on the brutality of slavery ("Overseers"); the torment that awaited resisters ("Nat"); Brown's deep anguish over losing his first wife and children, sold and forever separated from him ("Courage"); and his subsequent life as a free man ("BOX"). His traumatic, stifling two-day journey ("Baggage") from Virginia to Philadelphia occurs over several claustrophobic spreads. Elaborate mixed-media collages by Wood (Clap Your Hands) employ a box motif, featuring Escher-like cubes alongside folded paper and painted quilt squares. A timeline, notes, and bibliography conclude this rich retelling of Brown's courageous escape. Ages 10--up. (Apr.)■
Horn Book Review
I entered the world a slave...I was a slave because my countrymen had made it lawful, in utter contempt of the declared will of heaven. Our introduction to Henry Brown in the opening lines of the book are in his own words (from Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself). The history of Henry Brownwho self-emancipated from enslavement after his wife and children were sold away by shipping himself North in a wooden crate, hoping to pass as dry goodshas been told before (see Henrys Freedom Box, rev. 3/07). Here, Weatherfords moving, poetic verse gives the story a very personal tone as the reader becomes immersed in Browns harrowing tale of loss and sorrow and his determination to be free. Written in sixains, with each line representing a side of a box, the text painstakingly traces Browns journey: I take a bladder of water and a drill to bore air holes / And cram my two-hundred-pound body into the box. The mixed-media art uses collage elements effectively. Deep reds and bright blues and greens figure prominently, giving the art a somewhat vintage feel while still being vivid and vibrant. The book ends powerfully with a sixain titled AXIOM: Freedom / Is / Fragile. / Handle / With / Care. Appended with a timeline, a bibliography, and notes from the illustrator and the author. Monique Harris March/April 2020 p.107(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
"Geometry. How many sides to a box?" This concrete poem, its words curling into the shape of the number six, opens an unusual and powerful book of poetry. Henry "Box" Brown, born enslaved in 1815 or 1816, famously had himself shut into a wooden crate in Virginia and mailed to freedom in Philadelphia. In a series of sixain poems, the author interprets Brown's autobiography, telling his story in urgent, compelling language. The love and comfort Brown finds with his wife, Nancy, and their children changes to despair when his family is sold and sent to another state. With little left to lose, he proceeds with the perilous escape. Mixed-media illustrations combine thickly textured figures and backgrounds, collage, and painted, folded paper to create images with three-dimensional qualities. As the illustrator says in her note, the pictures convey deep suffering, hope, and determination. Cubic shapes appear frequently, echoing and amplifying the six lines of each poem. Intended for older readers than Henry's Freedom Box (2007), the book artfully expresses difficult truths while being mindful of a child audience.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4 Up--Weatherford shares the story of Henry "Box" Brown, who was born into slavery in Richmond in the 1800s. Brown's birth family was divided after the death of their master. Later, Brown's pregnant wife and three children were sold and sent to North Carolina. In 1849, the same year Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery, Brown shipped himself in a wooden box to the American Anti-Slavery Society office in Philadelphia, successfully winning his freedom. Brown, given the nickname "Box" by abolitionists, promoted his escape by publishing an autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown. He created a performance piece ("Mirror of Slavery") that he exhibited in the United States, England, and Canada, solidifying his place in American history. Brown's story is conveyed in a series of sixains (a poem of six lines), mirroring the six sides of a box. Each poem is deceptively simple, but Weatherford's lush storytelling allows Brown's voice and story to come through clearly. The imagery is often as brutal as the history itself, and Brown is portrayed as a nuanced and complex human being, willing to do what is necessary to survive. Wood's mixed-media illustrations are dynamic and engaging. The details urge a second or third reading of the text. Bibliography and notes from the author and illustrator are included. VERDICT An artful and introspective retelling of the life of a remarkable man and a painful era in U.S. history. Weatherford's text paired with Wood's illustrations combine to offer a memorable work of nonfiction.--Casey O'Leary, Meredith Nicholson School 96, IN
Kirkus Review
After losing his family to treacherous slaveholders, Henry "Box" Brown risks his life in an unusual bid for freedom. Weatherford's account, written in Brown's voice, takes readers through his life and times in measured lines of poetry, with one to four poems per spread; most have six lines, like the sides of the box. Poems such as "Work," "Brutality," "Nat," "Laws," and "Crop" document Brown's early life as a slave. After he marries Nancy, her master goes back on his promise never to sell her. Brown tries to stay with Nancy through several sales, but when she and their children are finally sold away, never to return, Brown asks, "Lord, what more do I have to lose?" He dreams of freedom and prays for freedom until he is inspired to ship himself in a box to a trustworthy contact up North, where he begins the rest of his life. This lengthy retelling details what life was like for both enslaved and free blacks at this time in U.S. history as well as the pain and near suffocation Brown suffered on his way to freedom. The poems are set against a white background facing full-page textured paintings featuring stylized figures and patterns reminiscent of quilts. Brown's story never gets old, and this illustrated biography is rich in context and detail that make it heavier on history and better for slightly older readers than, for instance, Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson's Henry's Freedom Box (2007). Heartbreaking and legendary. (timeline, bibliography, illustrator's note, author's note) (Picture book/biography/poetry. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
