Before She Was Harriet

Holiday House Publishing

(pub. 11.7.2017)
32 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Lesa Cline-Ransome
      and illustrator:  
                James E. Ransome

C haracter: Harriet Tubman

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "Moses,
      General Tubman,
      Minty,
      Araminta- 
the woman we know today as Harriet Tubman went by many names. Each represented one of her many roles as a spy, as a liberator, as a suffragist, and more.
     A powerful poem and exquisite watercolor paintings pay tribute to a true American hero.

T antalizing taste: 
       
"Before she was an old woman 
she was a suffragist
a voice for women 
who had none
in marriages
in courts
in voting booths
before her voice became
soft and raspy
it was loud
and angry 
rising above injustice

 

and something more: I was intrigued by the way this powerful and eloquent story was told -- a loop beginning as an older woman and progressing in reverse order through her life back to a woman "who dreamed/ of living long enough/ to one day/ be old/stiff and achy/tired and worn and wrinkled/ and free".  And such a lovely dedication by James E. Ransome, the illustrator: "To black women who have carried the weight of family and work with grace and dignity."