Book Summary: Harriet Tubman is a slave who decides to escape north to freedom. Moses is told through Tubman's conversations with God as well as the actual events of escaping. When she is scared and needing guidance God guides her to safety. As she is escaping there are multiple times where there is a feeling of suspense as she is fleeing and she is always quick to thank God for not being safe. She meets lots of strangers on her way and is rightfully scared to trust them but God guides her. When she arrives in Philadelphia she realizes that her people are still in slavery and through more conversations with God she is led back to the south and learns how to be a conductor on the Underground Railroad to rescue her family and more.
APA Reference: Weatherford, Carole Boston. (2006). Moses: When harriet tubman led her people to freedom. New York, NY: Hyperion Books.
Impressions: Harriet Tubman's story is so familiar that it is refreshing to hear it from her point of view and through her conversations with God. The way the text blends in with the illustrations is amazing. The text is as interesting as the illustrations. I really liked how the dialogue with God was shown and I really enjoyed hearing her thoughts. At first I thought, "is this whole thing a dialogue with God? That is interesting/strange for a children's book." I'm so glad I didn't abandon it and I finished it. I needed to see that perspective. We so often think of the amazing things she did that we sometimes don't think about how it must have been to actually go through the events and save so many people. This book lets the reader see that side of the journey- all of the unknowns as well as the risks.
Professional Review: Weatherford's handsome picture book about Harriet Tubman focuses mostly on Tubman's religious inspiration, with echoes of spirituals ringing throughout the spare poetry about her struggle ("Lord, don't let nobody turn me 'round"). God cradles Tubman and talks with her; his words (printed in block capitals) both inspire her and tell her what to do ("SHED YOUR SHOES; WADE IN THE WATER TO TRICK THE DOGS"). Nelson's stirring, beautiful artwork makes clear the terror and exhaustion Tubman felt during her own escape and also during her brave rescue of others. There's no romanticism: the pictures are dark, dramatic, and deeply colored--whether showing the desperate young fugitive "crouched for days in a potato hole" or the tough middle-aged leader frowning at the band of runaways she's trying to help. The full-page portrait of a contemplative Tubman turning to God to help her guide her people is especially striking. Hazel Rochman
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[Review of Moses: When harriet tubman led her people to freedom by Hazel Rochman]. Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Moses-Harriet-Tubman-Freedom-Caldecott/dp/0786851759/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430788536&sr=1-1&keywords=moses+when+harriet+tubman+led+her+people+to+freedom
Library Use: This would be a great way to introduce a slavery unit and teach about life before the Civil War. It would also be great as a character/biography study of Harriet Tubman. Her conversations with God let you see a different side of her than is mostly learned and that would offer a unique perspective.
