Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Title: Moses; When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children 2006
Genre: Picture book/ Historical fiction/ multicultural
Age Range: 3-5
Award: 2006 Caldecott Honor Book

Summary: With out any support from anyone Harriet Tubman looks higher for help. God answers Harriet and gives her encouragement along her journey to freedom. God mentions to her that she is to be the Moses of her people and that is exactly what she is. She frees them all and leads them to the promise land, free soil!

Response: What beautiful pictures. The scenery is so real looking. I noticed while reading this book on my desk if you turn on the lamp the starts and sun in the book light up and the further you move the light away it looks like the sun is setting and such. I loved it! It reminds me of Thomas Kinkade’s art work. It is sensitive to the light. I loved how the writing was broken up as well. God’s words were all caps and bold. While Harriet’s actions were in regular text, her thoughts and words were in italics. This makes it much easier for a child to keep up on what is going on. This was a beautiful story, told in such an uplifting way.

Teaching Ideas: This book should obviously be used in the teaching of slavery and Harriet Tubman. It’s a great book that will keep the students attention the pictures and the different voices you can just imagine. You can just picture God’s big bellowing voice while Harriet’s is so much quieter and unsure.