Additional information
by Pat Sherman (Author), Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)
A young slave teaches himself to read, eventually reading Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to fellow slaves imprisoned during the Civil War.
Ben, a young slave, uses every chance he gets to teach himself to read, practicing with the words he sees on street signs and in shop windows and even in cast-off newspapers he finds in the gutter.
But after the Civil War breaks out, his master leaves town and Ben finds himself in a slave prison. One night, the prisoners bribe a guard to get their hands on a newspaper, and to the applause of his fellow slaves, Ben reads aloud the momentous news of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation -- surely one of the most remarkable readings of that document ever. Author Pat Sherman's stirring text, based on the true story of Benjamin C. Holmes, pairs with memorable illustrations from Coretta Scott King medalist Floyd Cooper to honor the power of freedom and the written word. Awarded the Once Upon a World Children's Picture Book Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center / Museum of Tolerance, Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation is part of Eerdmans' Incredible Lives for Young Readers series.Author Biography
Pat Sherman works as a writer, library professional, and writing instructor in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her previous books include The Sun's Daughter, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Clarion), and several nonfiction books for young people on historical subjects ranging from colonial America to the present day.
Floyd Cooper (1956-2021) won many prestigious awards for his illustrations, including the 2009 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for The Blacker the Berry, written by Joyce Carol Thomas (Amistad), and three previous Coretta Scott King Honors, a Da Vinci Award, and an NAACP Image Honor. Throughout his over thirty-year career, Floyd illustrated more than ninety books, including Unspeakable by Carol Boston Weatherford (Lerner), Meet Danitra Brown by Nikki Grimes (HarperCollins), Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation by Pat Sherman (Eerdmans), and Mississippi Morning by Ruth Vander Zee (Eerdmans). Floyd lived in Pennsylvania until his death in 2021.
Number of Pages: 32
Dimensions: 0.2 x 10.8 x 8.4 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: February 11, 2020
Accelerated Reader:
Quiz Name: Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation
Interest Level: Lower Grades, K-3
Reading Level: 4.1
Point Value: 0.5
