An Apple for Harriet Tubman [Hardcover]

Glennette Tilley Turner (Author), Susan Keeter (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 1 and up

Like other enslaved African-American children, young Harriet Tubman had to work hard. In her master's orchard, she spent long hours picking the juicy apples she loved but was forbidden to eat. When she was grown, she made her escape to the North.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4–Based on a distant relative's recollection about the woman who would become the conductor of the Underground Railroad, this story follows Harriet from her early slave days to adulthood as a free woman. As a child, her favorite job on the plantation was picking apples in the orchard. She washed and polished them for the people in the Big House, but she was never allowed to eat any of them. When she did steal one, she was beaten. Apples became a symbol for Tubman of freedom and wealth. As an adult, she was eventually able to purchase her own house in upstate New York. On her property she planted many apple trees, the fruit of which she shared with the people in her town. Turner uses this thread to weave a larger story about a remarkable American and to provide insight into the life of a young slave. This book is an excellent introduction to a complex topic, providing children with a way to make a personal connection with a girl whose life was very different from their own. It gives parents and teachers a starting point for discussions about slavery, race, freedom, and heroism. Keeter's paintings offer an opulent backdrop with rich, thick brushstrokes and careful use of light. Faces convey depths of expression, adding volumes to the simple story.–Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Turner relates a childhood incident told to her in a 1984 interview with Harriet Tubman's grandniece--who heard it from Tubman herself. At age seven, Tubman's job was to care for the baby of an unkind white woman, who whipped her. Later, the overseer of an orchard lashes her for eating an apple. "The scars last all her life." Ketter's unframed, thickly painted pictures depict the slave child's cruel working conditions and her brave escape and rescue, culminating as Tubman buys a house and plants apple trees, which produce fruit for everyone to share. The story, with its concrete details, works as both fact and metaphor, bringing the transformation full circle--from the scars of suffering to the fruit of freedom. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 24 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company; 1 edition (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807503959
• ISBN-13: 978-0807503959
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > Social Activists

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