Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Illustrator: E.B. Lewis

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Date of Publication: October 7, 2004

Awards: Caldecott Medal Nominee (2005), Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Honor Book (2005), California Young Readers Medal Nominee for Picture Books for Older Readers (2007)

Age Range: 5 – 8 years

Grade Level: Kindergarten – 3

Resources:

• Lesson plan for K-6 focusing on social emotional learning
• Lesson plan for 3rd discussing the details and central message, then writing a return home letter from the perspective of Ada

Set in America during World War II, Coming On Home Soon is about a young girl named Ada who lives with her grandmother who is trying to make do as the men have all left for the war and Ada’s mother has left too to find work in Chicago. As Jacqueline Woodson unfolds her story we feel the same loneliness, sadness, and worry that Ada feels as she waits for her loved ones to come home. The illustrations are done so with muted watercolors, which expertly conveys the same feelings of loneliness and melancholy. While this is a book full of raw, often unfortunate, human emotion it does end on a hopeful note. Historical fiction is valuable because it allows its audience to step into someone’s shoes from history, to experience what they must have experienced so long ago. These experiences, albeit most likely different from your modern day life, will show how constant and universal human emotions are. Any reader who has ever lingered in the unknown, yearning for someone they miss, will read about Ada with a tightened heart.

Author: Ellen Levine

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Date of Publication: January 1, 2007

Awards: Caldecott Medal Nominee (2008), Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award for Grades 3-6 (2010), California Young Readers Medal for Picture Books for Older Readers (2012), Comstock Read Aloud Book Award Nominee (2008)

Age Range: 5 – 11 years

Grade Level: Kindergarten – 6

Resources:

• Lesson plan for grades 3-5 identifying both old and new information on the underground railroad
• Lesson plan for grades 5-8 analyzing the illustrations, analyze and evaluate different accounts of the same story, and create their own escape plan

This is no easy book to digest, nor should it be when considering the harsh reality of its subject matter. This book will wring your heart out as we follow Henry Brown’s story. As a child he was separated from his family, upon growing up, marrying, and forming a family of his home he finds himself once again separated from his family when they are sold to different owners. It is then he decides to escape to the north by mailing himself within a crate. Through this saga we are shown the inhumanity of slavery and the desperate methods through which humans tried to escape it. Kadir Nelson’s stunning illustrations are so detailed and expressive it will only further bring about more emotion and sympathy for our dear Henry Brown. This book is for the reader who wants to learn more about slavery and the slaves who had to survive through all the unforgivable injustices, this book does not shy away from any of those horrors. Some may find this subject matter too mature for young children, but for others it may serve as a great tool to discuss slavery and its victims.