Henry's Freedom Box

Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad was illustrated by Kadir Nelson, who also illustrated Moses, a book I will review soon. Henry's Freedom Box was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2008. The winner in 2008 was The Invention of Hugo Cabret. As a little plug, I must say if you haven't read the winner, you should!
The illustrations in Henry's Freedom Box are fantastic and life-like. I bought Moses sight unseen because they shared the same illustrator. Henry is a slave who's wife and children are sold and taken away. He can no longer bear to stay where he is so he thinks of way to mail himself to freedom. He finds a sympathizer to help him, and off he goes, spending part of his trip upside down in the box. I can not imagine the desperation he was feeling when he thought of this idea or the courage he needed in order to carry this out. I liked that the end of the book included additional facts about Henry "Box" Brown. There are many stories about the Underground Railroad, but none are about the man who mailed himself to freedom.