Time For Kids: Harriet Tubman: A Woman of Courage

by TIME for Kids

As a teenage slave, Harriet Tubman stood up to an overseer who was trying to harm another slave. From that time forward, Tubman (above left) fought against unfairness and for what she believed was right. She helped hundreds of African Americans escape on the Underground Railroad. TIME For Kids® Biographies help make a connection between the lives of past heroes and the events of today. Harriet Tubman's courage and ideals have inspired generations of Americans to fight for equal rights and to stand up for their convictions.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, American History, History, Juvenile

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Emma]

The book I read was a biography about Harriet Tubman and her life and how she freed slaves by using a trail known as the underground railroad. She is a teenage slave who knows from the beginning things aren't right, so Harriet Tubman stands up for it. An example was that she let other slaves and people stay in her house with nothing in return. Another example is when she saw another man almost getting beat up, She fought for the slaves and against everyone else even though that might mean she could die, and she did this with non-violence and what she thought was right. Knowing Harriet Tubman she wanted to be free she found a secret way to get to safe city without being caught. When she was at the city she was able to live life there, she was even able to get married. Remembering her paths Harriet Tubman also wanted to help other slaves that were enslaved, so she went back. She was able to help many other slaves trying to get away. Harriet Tubman risked her life many many times to make sure other people were safe. This path that brought slaves from place to place was known as the underground railroad.

I would give this book a 4 because it was a really good book, it was short, fast, and easy to read and kept me wanting to keep reading the book. I really liked hoe there was a fact box on some pages and nice pictures to describe the text and it gave good information about Harriet Tubman and her accomplishments. I also liked how it gave her background life before she was known as the underground railroad saver kinda and gave many cool text features, I would definitly recommend this book to anyone who needs a fast, easy, and short book and even be able to learn from it, and I really liked this book as a whole.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the film Harriet coming out, my spouse bought this used book from the Habitat for Humanity Restore to put out in our front-yard Little Free Library. I enjoyed reading this book to refresh my knowledge of Harriet Tubman from decades ago when I used to teach American Literature classes.

This “Time for Kids” biography includes interesting black-and-white photographs of Tubman, slave life, and the Civil War years, as well as colorful contemporary drawings depicting events in her life. The story provides information about the amazing arc of Tubman’s life, from her childhood duties as a slave through her Underground Railroad years and service as a nurse and scout to Union soldiers during the war, to her care for elderly African Americans in her own senior years. I found the layout, however, to be an ADHD distraction, with double-page spreads divided into several sections, photographs, sidebars, and a variety of fonts. But this would probably be enticing to elementary school kids in ways that it is not to a 61-year-old woman. The “Talking about Harriet“ chapter at the end, featuring an interview with Christine King Farris, older sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is so generic as to be worthless. (When asked what Tubman and MLK had in common, Farris replied, “They were both leaders. Leaders are people who are not afraid to take a stand for what they believe.” Nonetheless, this book provides a solid introduction to Harriet Tubman and informative background on slavery for younger children.

[Taylor]

Harriet Tubman had a hard life. All of her family was slaves. Her grandparents were in West Africa. Her parents were Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross. Also her parents named her Araminta but people called her Harriet. She got hit by a rock because she try to save a slave. This caused her to black out and this frequently happened. Harriet Tubman was a very inspirational woman. She promised her self that she wouldn't die a slave. She sacrifice herself for other slaves. She wanted to make a difference in the world so she did. Every sense she was little she always helped other slaves. She knew she needed to do the right thing even if that meant she would get hurt. She lead slaves to the underground rail road to become free during the Civil War.

I would recommenced this book to someone who enjoys history and inspirational people and books.
I give this book the best rating because he makes me think different and makes be have a different aspect of the world. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about Harriet Tubman and how she freed the slaves. She used the Underground railroad to help her transport slaves from one place to another. She faced many hardships. When she was younger she saw an elderly man about to get beat so she stepped in front of the man. The slave owner threw a rock but accidentally hit Harriet and she had head problems the rest of her life. One day she had had enough and wanted to escape. She was going to take her two brothers but they were too scared to go. So she was able to make it safely to the city a she marries and guy and they are safe. Well Harriet wanted to safe the other slaves. So she meets people that have a system called the Underground Railroad. It helps slaves escape and takes them to a safe place. Harriet helped free a lot slaves and is honored and loved. We will always remember Harriet and what she did to help people who needed it.

I really liked this book. It gave me good information and it was very enjoyable. I liked learning about things that Harriet had to go through in her life. I would definitely recommend this book to anybody. I think everybody should know who Harriet Tubman was and what she did for Africans American slaves. Overall this was a great book and I really liked it.

[Keisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet Tubman is about a woman who helped slaves get to freedom. She was very brave for risking her life many times for the happiness of others. she was very selfless and helped everyone. If you like reading about history and women heroes this is a good book to read.

I really liked this book. I recommend this book to my cousin because she loves learning about independent women. She also loves reading about history. This book is a non-fiction book so if you like non-fiction i recommend this book to you.

[Hayley Kopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a kid and realized Harriet Tubman was real badass. I wish I could be as brave and heroic as her one day, or provide sanctuary for others like she and the Underground Railroad did.

[Chappyfamily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to a wonderful amazing hero. It’s very basic but covers a lot in 45 easy read pages. If you stop with this book; oh how much you will miss! It’s only for an introduction!

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Name: Taylor Myatt
Title: Time For Kids: Harriet Tubman: a woman of courage. (2005). New York, NY: HarpersCollins Publishers.
Type of Reference: Biography
Call Number: E444.T82 H37 2005
Brief Description: This is the biography of Harriet Tubman, a slave who always stood up for what she believed in. This biography follows the life and travels of Harriet Tubman as she helped countless African Americans escape slavery through the underground railroad.
Cost: $3.83
Relevance and Relationship: Our second grade classes do an entire unit on segregation and black history during the month of February. This could easily be incorporated into their unit of study.
Purpose: To facilitate the connections of the hero, Harriet Tubman, with the students of today.
Validity: This book is produced by Time®, which is a highly acclaimed magazine.
Format: The format of this selection is print with various maps and illustrations.
Arrangement and Presentation: This book flows in the order of events of Harriet Tubman’s story.
Diversity: This book is perfect for addressing the topic of diversity and segregation. It is in simple, easy to understand language that even lower elementary aged students can glean the message.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography is about Harriet Tubman and her fight for liberty. Harriet Tubman helped African Americans escape slavery through the underground railroad and she served our country during the civil war as a scout and spy. Since this biography was written for children, it goes into great depth in particular about child slavery. These excepts talk about how the children were property of their owners and how parents and children could be separated if they were sold. I think its important that they focus on children just because of the nature of the article. It's intended for children, and excerpts that show what Harriet Tubman was going through can really be imagined when they talk about child slavery in general. The photos in this article are particularly appealing and help capture what the article is about.

[Darlena Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is highly informative and a good book to teach text features to children. I re-read this book on April 24-26, 2022. I will say that the information seems inaccurate with other versions I have read and my own first-hand research on Harriet Tubman for my senior thesis on the Underground Railroad many years ago. I would say use this as a secondary resource as it does have excellent examples of nonfiction text features. I went to a Quilt exhibit at the NC Museum of History a couple of years ago and the quilts in this book would not have been made by former enslaved people because they did not have access to fabrics such as pictured in this book. In addition, I heard a researcher talk before that the quilted messages is folklore and in his research he could not find justified sources to prove the use of quilts as cryptic messages to freedom.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet Tubman most definitely goes on the list of people throughout history that I would love to have a tea party with. Wow! What an amazing woman! I think this book did a perfect job of giving interesting and memorable facts about Ms. Tubman in a way that young readers can both understand and enjoy. My daughter and I had to stop many times while reading this small chapter/picture book to discuss how it would have felt to make the choices she did. The courage it would take and the kindness she was given from others as she sacrificed to help so many. I cannot wait to read more about her, so inspiring.

[Melissa Valdez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was as interesting as informative. The book involved a lot of detail about the life of Harriet Tubman and her accomplishments. I thought the book was well written for a younger audience to understand as it included images of characters and real images. This fun and exciting book can capture the attention of children as it goes from one page to the next describing Harriet Tubman's impact in society.

[Mas5thgrade2014 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally think Harriet Tubman is Amazing! I liked reading about her. This book was a little easy......it didn't go into much detail and the font was big. If you want to read a short, not complicated book about her I recommend this one.
MysteriousRainbownNinja48

[Catie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I dont like nonfiction but this book was pretty interesting :)

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about Harriet Tubman and how she helped other slaves get free. She was a scout and spy. Harriet was a women of courage. E. S.

[Scott Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read while getting ready to teach my seventh and eighth grade classes how to read biography. This was a very well written story and I think the students will get a lot out of it.

[Renay Jihad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for teaching elementary students about the life and accomplishments of Harriet Tubman.