The illustrator is Kadir Nelson, who also did Henry's Freedom Box. This book was the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner in 2007 and was also a Caldecott Honor book that same year. Once again Nelson does not disappoint with the illustrations. I would hang these on my walls! Several of the pictures show night scenes and Nelson uses such a slight variance of color to depict the scenes so the readers gets a good idea of how dark it was in the swamps and forests. The author uses a variety of different fonts to show what is going on in the story. The narrated text is written normally, but Harriet's thought are written in italics, and when God is talking the text is larger, all caps, and a different color than the rest. The story takes the reader on Harriet's journey as she first escapes to freedom. Her fears and triumphs are shared as well as her first attempts to help other escape too. There is a foreword at the front of the book sharing some facts about slaves in early American and the Author's Note at the end share much more information about Harriet Tubman personally. I think this is a must have for any library!
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