Before She was Harriet Book Review

 

Before She was Harriet

Lesa Cline-Ransome. BEFORE SHE WAS HARRIET. (James Ransome, Illus.). Holiday House, 2017.

ISBN: ‎ 978-0823420476

 

Before Harriet is a lyrical novel in verse. Lesa Cline-Ransome’s sparse poetry serves to highlight the important words in Harriet Tubman’s life. These words form the picture of her wholeness as a person. “Voice for women, courts, [and] voting booths” these words stand out from the page, showing Harriet as a suffragist. “Bullets, hatred, [and] fear” illustrate her work as a nurse in the Civil War. They are bold words visually. They are also hard consonants. They stick in your mouth and brain as you read them, cementing the image of Harriet Tubman. Cline Ransome uses these bold words to form a larger, more inclusive view of Harriet Tubman than is usually portrayed. Most of us only know Harriet Tubman as an abolitionist. The “Moses” of her people, leading them to freedom from slavery. What is less-known is her many other high-profile roles throughout her life. Cline-Ransome writes of Harriet’s whole self, writing backwards from Harriet as an old woman until she is a young girl, revealing the  many sides to her: suffragist, nurse, and many other roles shown in this moving text.

James Ransome’s watercolor illustrations are an evocative contrast to Cline-Ransome’s eloquent verse. Where the verse is sparse, the watercolor weaves a complexity into the story. On every page, Harriet, the only character in this story, is shown lit by light. Sometimes it is indirect: the reflections off snow or water. Other times it is overt: she literally stands in front of the sun or the moon. Ransome’s illustrations literally put the spotlight on Harriet. The only time she is not in the spotlight is when she is a slave, and Ransome interposes the master between her and the sun. It is a powerful symbol showing her level of power in that situation.

Before She was Harriet Book Review

The book does not dwell too much on her time as a slave, because, as the books points out, that is only a small part of who Harriet is. It is important to not glorify her time as a slave. She did many other things. While some of these roles were quite extraordinary, others were ordinary, showing that there were probably many other Black women doing similar things at the time. These many sides of Harriet also serve to illustrate the theme of this book: that we are the sum of our parts. We are complex. We grow and adapt. We may even have many different names, as she did, before she was Harriet.

There is no back matter, but I read the Kindle version, so there may be in other versions of this biography.

 

Programming Connection

The theme of Before She was Harriet is that we all have complex identities. Names are very important in Harriet’s life and our own. We will read aloud the books Alma and How She Got Her Name and Your Name is a Song. We will write down our names on post-it notes, including pronunciations. We will also share stories about what our names mean or why our parents chose them.

Audio Name Pronunciation | James Ransome on TeachingBooks