Henry's Freedom Box

Book Title: Henry's Freedom Box

Author: Ellen Levine

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: Henry, a young boy, is a slave. He grows up a slave and is moved to a new master after his first master falls ill. He is taken aways from his family to work and grows up to become a man. He finds love and marries and had three children. But one day while he is at work, he gets news that his family has been taken away and he will never see them again. It is then that Henry decides he needs to get to freedom. He had a plan to travel in a little wooden box to Philadelphia with the help of some good friends.  

ELA Content Standard 1: Grade 1, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas #7- Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

How it Connects:Students can use the pictures to make predictions about what Henry is going to do with the box and why he is going to Philadelphia. They can also see how uncomfortable he must have been being smashed in that box upside-down. 

ELA Content Standard 2: Grade 1, Key Ideas and Details #3- Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas or pieces of information in a text.

How it Connects: Students can discuss the relationship between Henry and his family and the can also discuss deeper meanings behind slavery and the relationship between slaves and slave owners

3 Tiers of  Vocab: 1) box 2) factory 3) Philadelphia

How Children Use Book: Individually

Meets Needs: Gifted Students can use this book to look up other events and famous people during slave times to gain more insight into that time period