A Plethora of Picture Books: underground railroad

Title: Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky
Author: Faith Ringgold
Illustrator: Faith Ringgold
Type: Historical Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 2nd-6th
Publisher: Dragonfly Books

Date of Publication: December 12, 1995
ISBN: 978-0517885437

Synopsis: Cassie and her little brother, Be Be, take a magical flight on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman as their conductor. Harriet Tubman explains to them what slavery was, and what it meant to live as a slave. She also details what happened to slaves that traveled on the Underground Railroad. The story is followed by a detailed description of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

Lesson plan link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) slavery, 2) the Underground Railroad, 3) Harriet Tubman

Title: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Author: Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrator: James Ransome
Type: Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 4th-12th
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Date of Publication: 1993
ISBN: 0-679-82311-5

Synopsis: Clara is taken from her mother to work in the fields on a different plantation. Her Aunt Rachel begins to teach her how to sew. Eventually, she becomes skilled at sewing and is taken to work in the big house. In the evenings, she begins to sew a quilt. As she sews, she incorporates features of the land around her into the quilt. It eventually becomes a map of the countryside surrounding the plantation. Using the information she learned while making her quilt, Clara and a friend escape and make their way to the Underground Railroad. Clara leaves the quilt behind where other slaves use it's information to escape also.

Lesson plan link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) slavery, 2) the Underground Railroad, 3) plantation life