Wanted Dead Or Alive: The True Story Of Harriet Tubman - Softcover

Mcgovern, Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590442120 ISBN 13: 9780590442121

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1991

Synopsis

A biography of the courageous slave from Maryland who escaped to the freedom of the north, and then returned, time and again, to lead others to freedom.

About this title

About the Author

Ann is the author of 55 books for children, including the classics STONE SOUP and TOO MUCH NOISE. Many of Ann's books are inspired from her travels and adventures, her interest in brave heroines, history, folklore, stories, animals, and her experiences scuba diving around the world. Ann was born in New York City and loves living there today.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Nighttime, Daytime It is five years before the beginning of the Civil War.

On the plantations of Maryland when they talk about Harriet, they call her Moses. In the North, too, she is known as Moses.

In the little slave cabins they whisper her name and hope she will come soon. In the big plantation houses, the masters wonder, "Who is this person they call Moses?"

Nighttime. A song is sung outside the slave cabins:
Go down, Moses
Way down to Egypt land
And tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go.

A slave whispers to his wife, "She is here. Get the children ready."

The next morning an overseer counts six slaves missing. Moses again!

Daytime. A Negro woman walks down the street. A big sunbonnet covers her face. She carries two chickens and walks bent over, like an old woman.

Suddenly she sees a white man coming toward her. Quickly she lets go of the chickens. The man laughs to see the old woman chasing two chickens across the road.

As soon as he is out of sight, the woman laughs too. Her trick has worked. The man did not recognize her. The man was her old master. The woman was Moses again!

Daytime. A women sits in a railroad station. Nearby two men are talking about a big reward. "Forty thousand dollars for Harriet Tubman, dead or alive," one of the men says.

Then the men see the Negro woman sitting in the station. They stare at the deep scar on her forehead. Quickly the woman opens a book and pretends to read it. She hears one of the men say, "That can't be the woman we want. Harriet Tubman can't read or write!"

But it is Harriet Tubman. It is the one they call Moses.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0590442120
• ISBN 13: 9780590442121
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 64
• Illustrator: Powers R.M.