Born a slave in Maryland, Harriet Tubman knew first-hand what it meant to be someone's property; she was whipped by owners and almost killed by an overseer. It was from other field hands that she first heard about the Underground Railroad which she travelled by herself north to Philadelphia. Throughout her long life (she died at the age of ninety-two) and long after the Civil War brought an end to slavery, this amazing woman was proof of what just one person can do.
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About the Author
Yona Zeldis McDonough is a longtime doll lover and collector. She is also an award-winning author who has published numerous books for children and adults. She presently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
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More About the Author
When I was young, I didn't think about becoming a writer. In fact, I was determined to become a ballerina, because I studied ballet for many years, and by the time I was in high school, I was taking seven ballet classes a week. But I was always a big reader. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and I used to frequent all the different libraries in my neighborhood on a regular basis. I would look for books by authors I loved. I read my favorite books--ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, A LITTLE PRINCESS, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN--over and over again. I probably read each of those books twenty times in all. I read lots of other things too: I loved comic books and magazines, like Mad and Seventeen. But when you are reader, you just need to read. Sometimes you read books that change your life, like OF MICE AND MEN, which I read--and adored-- when I was in sixth grade. Other times, you read the latest adventures of Betty and Veronica. You'll read a three-day old newspaper days or the back of the cereal box if that's all that there is available, because readers just need to read. So I kept reading, and I kept dancing too, though by the time I was a senior in high school, it was pretty clear to me that I was neither talented nor driven enough to become a professional ballet dancer and I stopped taking lessons and went off to college instead.
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. Everyone carried a briefcase. I too bought a briefcase, but since I mostly used it to tote my lunch and the NYT crossword puzzle, it didn't do much for my success as a grad student. But I have to thank the program at Columbia for being so very inhospitable, because it helped nudge me out of academia, where I so patently did not belong, and into a different kind of life. I was allowed to take classes in other departments, and by now I was recovered from my earlier rejection so I decided to take a fiction writing class--also, the class was open to anyone; I didn't have to submit work to be accepted. This class was my aha! moment. The light bulb went off for me when I took that class. Suddenly, I understood what I wanted to do with my life. Now I just had to find a way to make a living while I did it.
I finished out the year at Columbia, got a job in which I had no interest whatsoever, and began to look for any kind of freelance writing that I could find. In the beginning, I wrote for very little money or even for free: I wrote for neighborhood newspapers, the alumni magazine of my college. I wrote brochures, book reviews, newsletters--anything and everything that anyone would ask me to write. I did this for a long time and eventually, it worked. I was able to be a little choosier about what I wrote, and for whom I wrote it. And I was able to use my clips to persuade editors to actually assign me articles and stories, instead of my having to write them and hope I could get then published.
But all the while I was writing articles and essays, I was also writing the kind of fiction--short stories, a novel--that had interested me when I was still a student at Columbia. And eventually I began to publish this work too. I've written two novels for adults, THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS and IN DAHLIA'S WAKE--and my third novel, BREAKING THE BANK, will be out in September. I presently live in Brooklyn, NY with my husband and our two children and two small, yappy dogs. I have been setting my recent novels in my own backyard so to speak; Brooklyn has been fertile ground in all sorts of ways.
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. Everyone carried a briefcase. I too bought a briefcase, but since I mostly used it to tote my lunch and the NYT crossword puzzle, it didn't do much for my success as a grad student. But I have to thank the program at Columbia for being so very inhospitable, because it helped nudge me out of academia, where I so patently did not belong, and into a different kind of life. I was allowed to take classes in other departments, and by now I was recovered from my earlier rejection so I decided to take a fiction writing class--also, the class was open to anyone; I didn't have to submit work to be accepted. This class was my aha! moment. The light bulb went off for me when I took that class. Suddenly, I understood what I wanted to do with my life. Now I just had to find a way to make a living while I did it.
I finished out the year at Columbia, got a job in which I had no interest whatsoever, and began to look for any kind of freelance writing that I could find. In the beginning, I wrote for very little money or even for free: I wrote for neighborhood newspapers, the alumni magazine of my college. I wrote brochures, book reviews, newsletters--anything and everything that anyone would ask me to write. I did this for a long time and eventually, it worked. I was able to be a little choosier about what I wrote, and for whom I wrote it. And I was able to use my clips to persuade editors to actually assign me articles and stories, instead of my having to write them and hope I could get then published.
But all the while I was writing articles and essays, I was also writing the kind of fiction--short stories, a novel--that had interested me when I was still a student at Columbia. And eventually I began to publish this work too. I've written two novels for adults, THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS and IN DAHLIA'S WAKE--and my third novel, BREAKING THE BANK, will be out in September. I presently live in Brooklyn, NY with my husband and our two children and two small, yappy dogs. I have been setting my recent novels in my own backyard so to speak; Brooklyn has been fertile ground in all sorts of ways.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read,
By Patrice A. Williams (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Who Was Harriet Tubman? (Paperback)
Yona Zeldis McDonough did a wonderful job describing "Who Was Harriet Tubman? I read this book as a part of a Social Studies Unit on African American History to my Kindergarten class they were totally immersed. Even though the audience of students were young. They still answered the comprehension questions that I frequently asked through out the book exceedingly well. The reason why I selected McDonough's book over other books about Harriet Tubman was that it spoke of all aspects of history that occurred at that particular time. As a child I had studied Nat Turner, Abraham Lincoln, and of course Harriet Tubman, but it was amazing how many historical events occurred that she was an active part of. I feel that after reading this particular story that I have learned a great deal about an important icon in African American History, reading this book has enabled me to trace the beginnings of all beginnings. Harriet Tubman was truly a phenomenal women. She gave of herself again and again . . . By assisting others to freedom through The Underground Railroad, her service in the Union Army, and her many years of service as a nurse. As I read this book to my class they emphasized that they could literally see the scenes as I was reading them. Some of the terminology was intense and I used appropriate wording to make it age-appropriate for my students. Either way this is an excellent read for all -- and I hope to check out more books by this very informative author!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great book,
By
This review is from: Who Was Harriet Tubman? (Paperback)
i used this for my third graders book report and it was very informational and interesting.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Harriet's Life,
This review is from: Who Was Harriet Tubman? (Paperback)
I read the book Who Was Harriet Tubman. I thought it was very descriptive about her.I learned alot of information like when she was little her real name was Minty.She was born in Maryland.I also learned when she got older she changed her name after her mother.What really made me sad was when Harriet died in Auburn,New York. She died because she caught pneumonia (a serious disease in which your lungs inflame).
I admire Harriet Tubman for everything she did because if she hadn't fought back slavery would still exist.She was one of the greatest leaders we ever had.Harriet Tubman was famous because she risked her life helping black people.when it was dark she would round up slaves then lead them north.Sometimes she would hide in houses of people who didn't believe in slavery.Legend says Harriet never lost one passenger.Harriet would know where to go by using the northern star.The northern star was a star that led you north.If the northern star was covered she would look for moss.Moss only grew on the north side of trees.Harriet also was a civil war nurse.When people caught dysentery she would use her mother's medicne to cure them.Harriet Tubman was also a union army spy.She dressed up as a man.Sometimes black slaves from the southern army would share information with her.This is why I thought the book was descriptive.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Sometime around 1820 min Maryland, a slave named Harriet Ross had a baby girl. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Old Rit, Underground Railroad, United States, North Star, Civil War, Harriet Tubman, Miss Susan, New York, Nat Turner, John Tubman, South Carolina New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Sometime around 1820 min Maryland, a slave named Harriet Ross had a baby girl. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Old Rit, Underground Railroad, United States, North Star, Civil War, Harriet Tubman, Miss Susan, New York, Nat Turner, John Tubman, South Carolina New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 9
books:
See all 9 books this book cites
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself by Frederick Douglass on page 83, and Back Matter
- The Life of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglass on page 83, and Back Matter
- The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (African American) by Frederick Douglass on page 83
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass (Books of Wonder) by Lewis Carroll in Back Matter
- Life and Times of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglass on page 83
See all 9 books this book cites
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