About this book

Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Henry grows up and marries, but he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: He will mail himself to the North. After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday -- his first day of freedom.

Reviews

Kirkus Starred
Nelson's powerful portraits add a majestic element to Levine's history-based tale of Henry “Box”
Brown, a slave who escaped by having himself mailed to freedom in a crate. Depicted as a solemn boy
with an arresting gaze on the cover, Henry displays riveting presence in every successive scene, as he
grows from child to adult, marries and is impelled to make his escape after seeing his beloved wife and
children sold to slaveowners. Related in measured, sonorous prose that makes a perfect match for the art,
this is a story of pride and ingenuity that will leave readers profoundly moved, especially those who may
have been tantalized by the entry on Brown in Virginia Hamilton's Many Thousand Gone: African
Americans from Slavery to Freedom (1993). (afterword, reading list) (Picture book. 8-10)