Storytelling

By: Diana Fiddler

Levine, Ellen. 2007. Henrys Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground
Railroad. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Link to Storytelling Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/7IeVmkB-upU
This storytelling, of Henry Box Browns escape to freedom was constructed for
second grade children (7-8 years of age). The class of students was a mixed gender of
boys and girls and ethnicity. The predominant ethnic groups represented were
Caucasian and Native American children. There were approximately 18 students
present during the storytelling and they were seated in the shape of a horse-shoe. The
setting for this particular storytelling was in the second grade classroom at a rural public
school with the classroom teacher present during the telling.
I chose the book, Henrys Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground
Railroad by Ellen Levine, because of the intriguing storyline of one main character and
how the story relates to Henry Browns ability to craft his own freedom by mailing
himself to the slave free state of Pennsylvania. Good stories for telling usually have
few characters (from two to five), high conflict, action that builds to a climax, and a quick
conclusion that ties together all the threads of the story (Short, Lynch-Brown, and
Tomlinson 2014, 115). The second grade students study Freedom Week during the first
part of November. Even though many constitute this as only a week for the
remembrance of our veterans, it also stems upon the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights

states that all men are created equal which includes the same rights as others such as
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The story of Henry Brown and his escape from
slavery is the story of a man seeking this type of equality. The second grade students
also study how the postal system works. They take a trip to the post office and speak
with the postmaster about how mail is processed and delivered. Both experiences,
Freedom Week and the lesson over the postal system, are similar in the theme found in
the storytelling of the childrens book, Henrys Freedom Box: A True Story from the
Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine.
The storytelling of Henry Box Brown can relate to the family aspect of Henrys life as
seen by children in todays society. Children want to be close to their family members.
As in Henrys case, he had no choice in whether his family was torn away from him.
This is also the case with children who are placed in the Foster Care system. Other
children may have experienced similar feelings if a family member serves in the military,
when a divorce between parents takes place, or when a member of the family passes
away. Regardless of the circumstances, children have a fear that a family member may
never be seen again. This is the same type of fear Henry Brown experienced.
The props I chose to use were a pair of mens denim overalls, a newsboys cap, and
a wooden crate. The overalls were worn to give the depiction of an older generation
and time period. The clothing and hat are both thought to be items typically worn by
men. Therefore, the wardrobe assists in portraying the image of a male character. I
chose to display the wooden crate and actually placed myself inside of the crate to
demonstrate to the children the small cramped space in which Henry spent over 24
hours of his life traveling from Virginia, a slave state, to Pennsylvania, a free state. The

wooden crate was an integral part in Henrys escape. I began by preparing for the
storytelling by practicing in front of my family and my fourth grade students. The more
you practice-the more skilled you will become (McWilliams 1998, 4).
Through this storytelling experience, I have learned that I can tell a story and that
storytelling has an impact on its audience. After several trial runs, I found little things
during each practice session which could be added or deleted to improve the
storytelling experience. When I would practice in front of a live audience, I always
asked for any areas of improvement. If you ask a classroom full of nine year olds what
you could improve on to better your performance, one should always be prepared for
pure honesty! The first couple of students generally had good advice, but after the first
sincere critics the remaining could be quite harsh. If you practice in front of relatives,
they are not as critical as those who are not related to you, because they do not want to
hurt your feelings and they sometimes have on their rose-colored glasses. Overall, I
feel the student critics were very helpful in preparing for my actual storytelling debut. At
the time of the recorded storytelling, I could see the looks upon the students faces.
They were listening intently and taking in the whole account of Henry Box Browns
trek in becoming a free man. The questions which followed the storytelling proved this
point. The majority of the students asked meaningful questions which related to the
information told (of course some students asked if I knew their brothers and sisters or if
their siblings were in my class). After the storytelling, the students were read the picture
book, Henrys Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad. To my
excitement and pleasure, the students liked the oral storytelling over the reading of the
picture book. They stated that the oral version had more detail than the book.

Bibliography
Levine, Ellen. 2007. Henrys Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground

Railroad. New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Short, Kathy G., Carol Lynch-Brown, and Carl M. Tomlinson. 2014. Essentials of
Childrens Literature. New York: Pearson.
McWilliams, Barry. 1998. Effective Storytelling: A Manual for Beginners. http://engres
.ied.edu.hk/lang_arts/tasks/CurriculumRenew/CR-ModelB/ModelB(RayYu)/
rewritetell/tellingShortStoriesnotes.pdf.