| Title | : | Who Was Harriet Tubman? |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 044842889X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780448428895 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 106 |
| Publication | : | First published August 15, 2002 |
Who Was Harriet Tubman? Reviews
-
"Along with the black regiments, there was a new role for Harriet. Colonel James Montgomery asked if she could be a scout for his black troops. In effect, he was asking her to be a spy. Harriet was a perfect choice. As a small, black woman, she looked harmless. She could slip behind enemy lines and approach black people who were with their masters in the Confederate army. They would trust her and possibly share information about the Southern army. This information could help the Union cause.
Harriet became Commander of Intelligence Operations for the Union army's Department of the South. Nine scouts were under her command. She was in charge of an area that stretched from South Carolina to Florida. Though the white men she led weren't used to reporting to a black woman, they quickly came to respect and admire her." (Pages 77, 78 and 79) -
This book was really interesting and informative. It has pieced together so much history for me that I didn't realise I was interested in at the time. It was a really quick read with so much info. I loved it.
-
5 Stars
I always love the who was books simply because I always learn something that I never knew before. These books are always fun to read and you always learn something about that person after you read it. I have read many books of these and I love them all there is not one single one that I don't like. I love these books so much. -
Who Was Harriet Tubman? by Yona Zeldis McDonough goes into a lot of personal information I did not know about Harriet. This book is filled with details and interesting personal info about her life that probably won't be found in a normal history book. By the end of the book, I felt I had a stronger sense of who Harriet was as a person. Great job. Fantastic book for a fantastic woman.
-
"Even though she was a slave, Minty was happy." - page 7
Fucking unacceptable in every way. Hearkens back to my very white, private Southern Baptist high school with all its Confederacy apologists rhetoric BULLSHIT. "Some slave owners treated their slaves kindly. Some slaves were happy. BLAH FUCKING RACIST BLAH."
Happy to report that we're getting rid of this trash at my library. BOOK, BYE. -
"Even though she was a slave, Minty was happy." - page 7
Shameful. This essentially teaches young children of any race who read this book that oppression - in this case, being owned by another human being- can be acceptable. -
Who Was Harriet Tubman? [2002] - ★★★★1/2
This series of books illustrates the lives of notable people for children. Who Was Harriet Tubman? talks about the life and achievements of one slave woman, born 1822, in the US who helped many black people in slavery become free. In a very simple language, it explains that Harriet Tubman ("The Moses of Her People") was a fiercely independent young woman who always stood up for her people. She had dreams of freedom and and one day managed to escape her master, travelling on the Underground Railroad. She returned many times to the South, though, guiding some seventy other slaves to their freedom to the North, including devising their roots of escape, communicating with abolitionists and Quakers, and both physically and symbolically paving their road to freedom. She worked as a nurse, as a spy and also as the Commander of Intelligence Operations for the Union's Army Department of the South. She was a passionate activist for equality, too, and later also campaigned for women's rights. The story is mixed with some information on Tubman's time period, for example, explaining abolitionists and Quakers. Though it is a great idea to introduce children to notable and courageous people who made a positive difference to other people's lives in a simple story format, I also thought that some aspects of the story were over-simplified, while others will be unsuitable for young children. -
Informative - not terribly well written. I think Lily found it very instructive and rightly horrifying. She has decided to be a Quaker for Halloween. Also, she said (before the chapter of this title) "Mommy, she is just like Moses - leading people out of slavery".
-
SUMMARY:
Who Was Harriet Tubman? by
Yona Zeldis McDonough is a great African-American history book for kids! Harriet Tubman, born Araminta "Minty" Harriet Ross, was probably one of the bravest African-American women of her time! After being a cruelly treated slave for a long while, she decides that she has had enough, and she ran up to the north. When Harriet got there, though, she realized--she was the only one. No one she knew was there--she was alone. So...being the courageous woman she was, Harriet went back down to the South. She knew other people needed her help. Did Harriet survive the journey?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
"As a student at Vassar College, I never once took a writing course. I was not accepted into the poetry workshop I applied to, so I avoided all other writing classes, and instead focused on literature, language and art history, which was my declared major. I was so taken with the field that I decided to pursue my studies on a graduate level. I enrolled in a PhD program at Columbia University where I have to confess that I was miserable. I didn’t like the teachers, the students or the classes. I found graduate school the antithesis of undergraduate education; while the latter encouraged experimentation, growth, expansion, the former seemed to demand a kind of narrowing of focus and a rigidity that was simply at odds with my soul. It was like business school without the reward of a well-paying job at the end." (piece of Yona Zeldis Mc Donough's biogragraphy @
http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com/co...)
MY OPINION:
I really like how this book is nonfiction and it's interesting too! Most nonfiction books don't really seem that interesting to me, but this book was more like a story. This series is great for all ages! I also thought that some of the parts of the book were kind of sad, but not too sad for younger children to handle. I can't wait to read more of the "Who Was" series--plus I love learning about black history!
Who was Harriet Tubman? Well, now I know. :)
★★★★ 4/5 stars!
Blogs:
KBR and
KKR
http://amazon.com/author/kristinacardoza
www.KristinaCardoza.com
www.facebook.com/KristinaCardozaChild... -
My eight-year-old daughter discovered Yona Zeldis McDonough’s Who Was Harriet Tubman? while sifting through the books handed down to her from our generous teen neighbor. She was excited to make this find because she had already read McDonough’s Who Was Rosa Parks? at school. Her passionate recommendation regarding this series was, “It’s not like you don’t want to read these books,” said in a hurried speech. Hey, this more than works for me.
My daughter allowed me to read Who Was Harriet Tubman? first because she is currently reading Janet B. Pascal’s Who Was Abraham Lincoln?. I read Who Was Harriet Tubman? in one sitting; it was that good.
Not only did I learn crucial biographical facts, but I also heard Tubman’s voice through key quotes. When finally a free woman, Tubman declared, “‘I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free. There was such a glory over everything, the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields and I felt like I was in heaven’” (45). As a spy in the Union army, Tubman concludes, “”I made up my mind [that] I would never wear a long dress on another expedition . . . but would have a bloomer as soon as I could get it’” (82). My kind of lady . . .
With illustrations by Nancy Harrison which further reinforce Tubman’s story, this is an ideal book for even the reluctant reader.
My next assigned reading [from my third-grader] is What Is the Statue of Liberty? by Joan Holub. I am looking forward to uncovering what all I had failed to learn or simply forgotten since my time in third grade. -
My daughter and I read this together last week over the course of 2 days. It's a relatively short, but powerful read.
Harriet's bravery stuck out the most to my daughter. She put her own life at risk many times, even as a very young woman. Her courage was remarkable. The author did not try to hide the unpleasantness of her life, including when she came back to rescue her husband and she found he had married another woman. While this fact shocked my daughter, I think it's important information for young girls to absorb in the midst of Barbie and Disney movies.
Harriet was her own heroine. And, she saved hundreds of men and women despite her personal limitations.
The book did a very good job on putting a human face on the horrifics of slavery. Like most eight-year-olds, she was aware that slavery existed, however, prior to reading this book, I don't think she had any understanding of what life as a slave actually entailed.
My daughter was also thrilled to see how Harriet's path crossed with Susan B. Anthony's, who we just finished reading about it in another book.
We fell in love with Harriet. We both cried when she died at the end.
This was truly a great read, even for grown ups. -
It's hard to not like anything that shares HT's story. What a woman. However, I have to say that in several cases I was astonished at how nice the author made slavery sound and her characterization of American hero, Nat Turner was negative and stank of white privilege.
-
It's been many years since I've read anything about Harriet Tubman, and I'm not familiar with this series of biographies for young readers, so I borrowed the book for our neighborhood little lending library. I started out thinking that this would be good to use with kids, but by the end I had decided that I'd want to see if I had other choices.
I'm sure the author struggled with how much to portray about slavery to a young audience. But to say that the children played and had fun and that Minty's childhood was 'happy?' (p 7) That's a stretch.
Interspersed through the book are boxed text of additional info; all written at a higher reading level. The 10 topics introduced this way are:
1. Bought and Sold (slave markets)
2. Nat Turner's Rebellion
3. Cotton and Tobacco
4. Abolitionists
5. Quakers
6. Vigilance Committees
7. The Combahee River Invasion (no words, 2 page art)
8. Frederick Douglass
9. Constitutional Amendments
10. Two of a Kind: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
These sections overweight an already heavy concept load. I was tempted to go through and list examples of all the 'heavy terms' that are used in one chapter, but I've said enough. -
This was a great account of an admirable woman, illustrating her bravery, tenacity, and selflessness. I knew about Harriet Tubman's role in the Underground Railroad and that she was called "Moses." But I was happy to learn more about her from this book. For example, I did not know much about her role in the Union army during the Civil War, or about her first husband, a free black man who refused to flee north with her, even threatening to turn her in. This book was full of interesting information, including personal details that help the reader connect with this great historical figure.
-
As usual with this series, it was excellently done.
I didn’t really learn anything new about Harriet Tubman but it was presented well. Tubman’s strength and will of character. What struck me the most was how her brothers were too scared to go so she went off by herself. She never let fear get the best of her.
Glad to add this book to my class library! -
It was great. I learned lots of things.
-
Love this book you can read it and know it is real
-
My Second grader loved it and shared many facts about her after reading.
-
Who Was Harriet Tubman? was a very sad book. Yet it was very interesting to learn about her very brave and scary life.
