Henrys Freedom Box-Multicultural and International Literature

            Henrys Freedom Box by Ellen Levine tells the story of a young man who risks everything to be a free man.  Henry the young man grew up as a slave and is sold from one place to another.  Along the journey he meets a young woman who he marries and starts a life with, but unfortunately his wife and children are sold to another family and gone before Henry has the chance to say goodbye.  With this as his last straw Henry comes up with the solution to his freedom.  He decides to ship himself to a friend in Philadelphia, which was one of the few free states at the time.  In order to do this Henry had to stay in a small cargo box for twenty-seven hours with little to eat or drink, until he finally landed in the free state.  This book is a great book to read to students because it is based on a true story and there are many ties to the Underground Railroad and slavery in it.  After reading this book I found that Henry became known as Henry “Box” Brown, one of the most famous slaves to travel the Underground Railroad.  He also became known as “the man who mailed himself to freedom”.  This book could serve as a lead way to many lessons dealing with the Underground Railroad, slavery, famous people from the past, and different times in history, etc.  Also, as a teacher I would tie in courage and integrity and talk to students what those character traits mean and explain to them how Henry represented each in the book.   There are many lessons that could be taught based off this book, and that is why I think it is such a great representation and book for children grades 3 through 5.  One activity that I think would be a great one for the students would be to write their own story about escaping freedom and how they would use courage and integrity to become a free person.  This activity would help students in using their imagination and tie in part from the book.