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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Bound by slavery, young Henry Brown and his seven siblings performed grueling plantation labor. Moved and abused at the whim of masters and vicious overseers, Henry eventually married, but was soon separated from his wife and children. He struggled to pay the price of their ownership, but they are moved out of state in a slave chain pass. Having lost all that is dear, he received an inspiration for escape as an answer to prayer, and hired a carpenter to build a shipping box just big enough to hold him. His two day trip by wagon, train, steamer, and cart to Philadelphia ended in freedom, but despite selling his book and song lyrics at abolitionist gatherings, the challenge of reuniting with his family remained insurmountable. Henry continued to share his story in a reenactment for anti-slavery audiences, and evaded bounty hunters by sailing to England, where he developed a new one-man show. There he remarried and had a daughter. This remarkable poetic account of devastation, resilience, ingenuity, and perseverance is told in six line stanzas, with each line representing one side of a box, and draws on Henry Brown's own writings. Masterful mixed media illustrations achieve the artist's goal of expressing suffering and hope while maintaining dignity and integrity. (Age 10 and older)

CCBC Choices 2021 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2021. Used with permission.

From Booklist

April 15, 2020
Grades 3-6 "Geometry. How many sides to a box?" This concrete poem, its words curling into the shape of the number six, opens an unusual and powerful book of poetry. Henry "Box" Brown, born enslaved in 1815 or 1816, famously had himself shut into a wooden crate in Virginia and mailed to freedom in Philadelphia. In a series of sixain poems, the author interprets Brown's autobiography, telling his story in urgent, compelling language. The love and comfort Brown finds with his wife, Nancy, and their children changes to despair when his family is sold and sent to another state. With little left to lose, he proceeds with the perilous escape. Mixed-media illustrations combine thickly textured figures and backgrounds, collage, and painted, folded paper to create images with three-dimensional qualities. As the illustrator says in her note, the pictures convey deep suffering, hope, and determination. Cubic shapes appear frequently, echoing and amplifying the six lines of each poem. Intended for older readers than Henry's Freedom Box (2007), the book artfully expresses difficult truths while being mindful of a child audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

From Kirkus

Starred review from March 1, 2020
After losing his family to treacherous slaveholders, Henry "Box" Brown risks his life in an unusual bid for freedom. Weatherford's account, written in Brown's voice, takes readers through his life and times in measured lines of poetry, with one to four poems per spread; most have six lines, like the sides of the box. Poems such as "Work," "Brutality," "Nat," "Laws," and "Crop" document Brown's early life as a slave. After he marries Nancy, her master goes back on his promise never to sell her. Brown tries to stay with Nancy through several sales, but when she and their children are finally sold away, never to return, Brown asks, "Lord, what more do I have to lose?" He dreams of freedom and prays for freedom until he is inspired to ship himself in a box to a trustworthy contact up North, where he begins the rest of his life. This lengthy retelling details what life was like for both enslaved and free blacks at this time in U.S. history as well as the pain and near suffocation Brown suffered on his way to freedom. The poems are set against a white background facing full-page textured paintings featuring stylized figures and patterns reminiscent of quilts. Brown's story never gets old, and this illustrated biography is rich in context and detail that make it heavier on history and better for slightly older readers than, for instance, Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson's Henry's Freedom Box (2007). Heartbreaking and legendary. (timeline, bibliography, illustrator's note, author's note) (Picture book/biography/poetry. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Horn Book

Starred review from March 1, 2020
"I entered the world a slave...I was a slave because my countrymen had made it lawful, in utter contempt of the declared will of heaven." Our introduction to Henry Brown in the opening lines of the book are in his own words (from Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself). The history of Henry Brown�? who self-emancipated from enslavement after his wife and children were sold away by shipping himself North in a wooden crate, hoping to "pass as dry goods"�? has been told before (see Henry's Freedom Box, rev. 3/07). Here, Weatherford's moving, poetic verse gives the story a very personal tone as the reader becomes immersed in Brown's harrowing tale of loss and sorrow and his determination to be free. Written in sixains, with each line representing a side of a box, the text painstakingly traces Brown's journey: "I take a bladder of water and a drill to bore air holes / And cram my two-hundred-pound body into the box." The mixed-media art uses collage elements effectively. Deep reds and bright blues and greens figure prominently, giving the art a somewhat vintage feel while still being vivid and vibrant. The book ends powerfully with a sixain titled "AXIOM": "Freedom / Is / Fragile. / Handle / With / Care." Appended with a timeline, a bibliography, and notes from the illustrator and the author. Monique Harris

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From School Library Journal

Starred review from February 1, 2020

Gr 4 Up-Weatherford shares the story of Henry "Box" Brown, who was born into slavery in Richmond in the 1800s. Brown's birth family was divided after the death of their master. Later, Brown's pregnant wife and three children were sold and sent to North Carolina. In 1849, the same year Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery, Brown shipped himself in a wooden box to the American Anti-Slavery Society office in Philadelphia, successfully winning his freedom. Brown, given the nickname "Box" by abolitionists, promoted his escape by publishing an autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown. He created a performance piece ("Mirror of Slavery") that he exhibited in the United States, England, and Canada, solidifying his place in American history. Brown's story is conveyed in a series of sixains (a poem of six lines), mirroring the six sides of a box. Each poem is deceptively simple, but Weatherford's lush storytelling allows Brown's voice and story to come through clearly. The imagery is often as brutal as the history itself, and Brown is portrayed as a nuanced and complex human being, willing to do what is necessary to survive. Wood's mixed-media illustrations are dynamic and engaging. The details urge a second or third reading of the text. Bibliography and notes from the author and illustrator are included. VERDICT An artful and introspective retelling of the life of a remarkable man and a painful era in U.S. history. Weatherford's text paired with Wood's illustrations combine to offer a memorable work of nonfiction.-Casey O'Leary, Meredith Nicholson School 96, IN

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from January 27, 2020
A powerful assortment of colors, textures, and artistic styles illustrate this true story of how Henry “Box” Brown escaped enslavement in 1849 via a harrowing journey inside a sealed crate. “Inside/ One/ Box/ To/ Flee/ Another,” explains one of the more than 50 short poems that comprise this vivid account. Told
in Brown’s voice, all but one contain six lines: the number of sides in a cube. Weatherford (The Roots of Rap) bases often-lyrical free verse on Brown’s own narrative, excerpted in the opening spread. Detailed stanzas, each beginning with a single descriptive term, touch on the brutality of slavery (“Overseers”); the torment that awaited resisters (“Nat”); Brown’s deep anguish over losing his first wife and children, sold and forever separated from him (“Courage”); and his subsequent life as a free man (“BOX”). His traumatic, stifling two-day journey (“Baggage”) from Virginia to Philadelphia occurs over several claustrophobic spreads. Elaborate mixed-media collages by Wood (Clap Your Hands) employ a box motif, featuring Escher-like cubes alongside folded paper and painted quilt squares. A timeline, notes, and bibliography conclude this rich retelling of Brown’s courageous escape. Ages 10–up. (Apr.)■

From Horn Book

January 1, 2020
"I entered the world a slave...I was a slave because my countrymen had made it lawful, in utter contempt of the declared will of heaven." Our introduction to Henry Brown in the opening lines of the book are in his own words (Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself). The history of Henry Brown--who self-emancipated from enslavement after his wife and children were sold away by shipping himself North in a wooden crate, hoping to "pass as dry goods"--has been told before (see Henry's Freedom Box, rev. 3/07). Here, Weatherford's moving, poetic verse gives the story a very personal tone as the reader becomes immersed in Brown's harrowing tale of loss and sorrow and his determination to be free. Written in sixains, with each line representing a side of a box, the text painstakingly traces Brown's journey: "I take a bladder of water and a drill to bore air holes / And cram my two-hundred-pound body into the box." The mixed-media art uses collage elements effectively. Deep reds and bright blues and greens figure prominently, giving the art a somewhat vintage feel while still being vivid and vibrant. The book ends powerfully with a sixain titled "AXIOM": "Freedom / Is / Fragile. / Handle / With / Care." Appended with a timeline, a bibliography, and notes from the illustrator and the author.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From AudioFile Magazine

Dion Graham delivers this narrative poetry with understated passion, giving dignity to Henry Brown's story of escape from slavery by mailing himself to Philadelphia in a box. Graham transports the listener to a painful time and place in our history, blending a Southern accent with Weatherford's hybrid of modern and period language. Graham is soft-spoken yet expressive reciting poems like "Work" and "Brutality." His quiet voice hints at fear of being overheard as soft music plays in the background. In "Fear" and in "Nat," a poem recounting Nat Turner's failed rebellion, Graham's voice intensifies, along with the violin music. Henry's tragic background explains his willingness to attempt a perilous escape. Dramatic music and whispered dialogue give way to joy upon Henry's safe arrival in Philadelphia. Timeline and author/illustrator notes are included. L.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine