Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, Inspired by Historical Facts Hardcover – Picture Book, January 6, 2015

I enjoyed reading this children's book which records an imaginary conversation between Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman. What made it even more fascinating was getting to the end and realizing how incredibly well-researched this book is. This would be a great addition to an elementary history teacher's classroom!

The children I thought would like it, did. I am very pleased. Both of them are very advanced in reading but they enjoyed this thoughtful book for the story and the pictures.

Bought this as a gift for my daughter! She loves it!

Nikki Grimes is the BEST writer

Great for use in the classroom, exploring the category of historically-based fiction.

Two women. One Negro, one white, both trying to bring beneficial changes. Both believing they had a call from the Lord for what they did. Both seeing a measure of success during their lifetime. Both should be heroines to young women today and in the future. "Chasing Freedom" by Nikki Grimes and Michele Wood is suggested for children ages 7 to 10 and is great for parents and children to read together.Nikki Grimes, winner of the 2014 Coretta Scott King Honor and 2003 Coretta Scott King Award, has penned an exciting overview of the lives of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony based on the question, "What if Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony sat down over tea to reminisce about their extraordinary lives?" With excellence in research and imagination, she pictured them sitting down over tea before Ms. Anthony introduced Ms. Tubman to speak at the 1904 New York States Suffrage Association. They discussed their primary goals and what they did to meet those goals through their lifetime in an open, woman-to-woman conversation.Michele Wood, winner of the 1999 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, is the imaginative and emotive illustrator of this book. Each picture is bold and colorful, drawing out the emotions of the reader before one has even read the corresponding prose. The hardcover book is large and elegant, inviting the young reader to open and embrace the stories within.Harriet Tubman has been one of my heroines since I read a biography of her life and work in elementary school. Also known as Moses, she escaped slavery in 1849. By 1851, `Moses' was on the road to rescue and free family members left behind in slavery. She became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping many slaves get free from slaveholders and keep them safe on the journey. Her life was committed to freeing as many slaves as possible, raising funds to help former slaves, and the women's rights movement.Susan B. Anthony, while not as well-known to me, was every bit an equal in her passion for social change. She learned about the anti-slavery movement in her parents' home, and was also became a Daughter of Temperance, working for prohibition. From a Quaker family, Susan B. Anthony heard many historical greats discussing freedom with her father - men such as Frederick Douglass and Wendell Philips who fueled the fire in her heart to seek freedom for all people. She was a huge proponent not only of women's rights, but of women gaining the right to vote.At the end of the conversation, the reader will find pages of historical events that are referenced in the story and a small copy of Ms. Tubman's and Ms. Anthony's photographs and brief biographies. This book should ideally point young people to search out longer, more detailed biographies of each woman to see how they impacted their world for good - and know not only how the quality of their lives today results from these women's calling, but to also know that they, too, have important roles to play in history - and to and find that calling, that higher purpose, and leave a legacy for the future.While the conversation in this book was fictional, the historical events are true. The ladies' conversation included activities that each had done throughout their lives, as those activities are accurate and true. I highly recommend "Chasing Freedom" to parents and teachers, also for librarians to keep in stock. Nikki Grimes and Michele Wood have designed an amazing book that should stand the test of time and be a long-standing favorite of parents, teachers, and students for many years to come.With a grateful heart, I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads contest. All opinions are my own, and no monetary compensation was received for this review.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to sit in on a conversation with two historical figures? While doing research, author Nikki Grimes discovered that Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas were not only contemporaries, but they actually knew each other.She pondered this discovery and wondered what they might have talked about if they had met together in a room. Then she wondered what kind of conversation Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony might have had if they ever had a chance to meet alone. Grimes could find no historical record of such a conversation, but based on historical research about both of their lives, Grimes wrote this book featuring a conversation between the two just before Harriet Tubman’s speech at the women’s suffrage convention in Rochester, NY, in 1904, an event that both women attended.I was never a history buff in school --- I thought it was rather boring. When it’s presented as just a list of facts and dates about so-and-so doing such-and-such, I still find it boring. Plenty of historical facts were strewn throughout the text, but they blended smoothly with the rest of the story. When the historical facts are presented in a fictional manner, such as they are in this book, I enjoy reading the story and putting it all into historical perspective.At the end of the book, the author includes short biographies of everyone that was mentioned in the text. In addition to Tubman, Anthony and Douglas, there are blurbs about John Brown, Thomas Garrett, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others. Grimes also includes an “Additional Notes” section with more information about events that are mentioned in the book, such as the Dred Scott decision and the raid on Harpers Ferry.I enjoyed the book, but I didn’t really like the layout. Every two-page spread had the text on the left side and the illustrations on the right, which I found that to be a bit monotonous.Also, although the illustrations were rich in detail and color, some of them appeared a bit wooden --- the expressions on the characters’ faces or the way they were sitting or standing just seemed a bit off.Despite those two issues, though I think this is a great book --- you should definitely read it!Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin