Before She Was Harriet

Welcome to Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone! My picture book recommendation today is…

Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), James E. Ransome (Illustrator), published by Holiday House, 2016.

Themes/Topics: Harriet Tubman, Black Lives, Biography

Opening:  Here she sits an old woman tired and worn her legs stiff and her back any.

Brief Synopsis (from Amazon): This lush, lyrical biography in verse begins with a glimpse of Harriet Tubman as an old woman, and travels back in time through the many roles she played through her life: spy, liberator, suggragist and more. Illustrated by James Ransome, whose paintings for The Creation won a Coretta Scott King medal, this is a riveting introduction to an American hero.

Why I Like This Book: A beautiful, lyric story of Harriet Tubman’s life.

Links To Resources

—Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, by Alan Schroeder and illustrator Jerry Pinkney.

—Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling, 1954 was a great middle-grade biography

To find even more awesome picture books (and browse them by theme!) visit Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books page.