Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Name of Book: Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children

Audience: Ages 6 and up

Summary: The story of a particular slave, Harriet Tubman, who escapes from slavery and is called by God to go back for the purpose of saving and rescuing her fellow slaves into freedom through the Underground Railroad. 

Literary elements at work in the story: A partial biography and historical fiction book set in the 1800s. It is the story of a woman’s faith in and conversations with God, as well as her interactions with her fellow slaves and also the White people who are involved in the Underground Railroad.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? The protagonist is an African American female. Because the book is set during the time of slavery, the story is primarily about oppressed and abused African Americans who must rely upon the generosity of both southern white families and also northern freed African Americans in order to continue on the journey to find freedom.

Scripture: Moses story as told in Exodus

Theology: God’s abounding grace through Jesus Christ is our salvation. We are made right with God and one another, through faith in Jesus Christ.  In being made right, we are turned back toward God and therefore toward one another. God also gives us the gift of faith so that we can trust that our relationships with God and one another are made right by Jesus Christ. God often uses ordinary people to remind us of our salvation and bring us to a life of faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Does Harriet seem scared in the story?
2. Have you ever been scared before?
3. Do you talk to God when you are scared?
4. Has God ever used anyone to help lead you out of a bad situation?
5. How is God with us when we are in situations where we are being hurt?
6. How does God help people when they in situations where they are being hurt?

Review prepared by Union-PSCE in Charlotte student  Mason Todd