BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood

 

BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom

written by Carole Boston Weatherford,

illustrated by Michele Wood

Candlewick Press, 2020, 56 pages

In BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, a picture book biography for older readers, Carole Boston Weatherford offers a heartbreaking personal look at the life of on enslaved man who decided that he had nothing to lose by attempting to mail himself to freedom after everyone he loved - his wife and children - were sold:

"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 was born to an enslaved mother in 1815 in Virginia and put to work as a young child, along with his seven sisters and brothers. By the time he was 33-years-old, he had been moved from the farm to a tobacco factory in Richmond. There, he met his wife Nancy and soon there were children. But Nancy and the children were sold over and over. Finally, Henry manages to struck a deal to try to get her back - if he would chip in $50. of the $650 asking price for Nancy, he was promised that she would not be sold again. But when Henry couldn't meet demands for more money, his family is taken to be sold.

With nothing left to lose, Henry paid a carpenter to build a box to mail himself to freedom with the help of trusted friends. And difficult and physically painful as the trip north was, he succeeded in arriving at the Philadelphia headquarters of the Anti-Slavery Society and freedom.

Using Henry Brown's 1851 Narrative of the Life of Henry Brown written by Himself as her guide, Boston Weatherford begins Henry's story with a concrete poem called "Geometry" in the shape of the number six, and asking the question: how many sides to a box? The answer, of course, is six sides and from then on, the number six dominates each page.

Each of the 48 poems are written in sixains, six line stanzas, here done in spare free verse poems with each poem replicating the six-sides of a box and with the boxes arranged on the pages like packing crates carelessly stacked one on top of the other and giving the reader a claustrophobic feeling of confinement and lack of freedom, whether referring to Henry's enslavement or to the confines of his box to freedom.

Boston has tight control over her poems and yet, there is a musicality that never gets lost - even in the few 1 line, 6 stanza poems she includes. Each of the poems creates it's own image: clear, affective, detailed, and each connects to the poem that comes before and after it to ultimately paint a complete picture of Henry's life as well as the events of the time, in which he lives, such as the Nat Turner revolt and his subsequent murder. And most importantly, the poems do not shy away from the inhuman brutality of enslavement.

Complimenting and continuing the theme of the six sides of a box are Michele Wood's boldly dynamic mixed media illustrations in a palette of blues, reds, pinks, greens and browns. Illustrations are often set against a background of six-sided quilt patterns. 

Back matter includes a Time Line of Henry's life as well as important national events, a Bibliography, A Note from the Illustrator and A Note on Numbers  and Language used. 

You can download a useful Teacher's Guide courtesy of the publisher, Candlewick Press

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was gratefully received from NetGalley

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