Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth

by Anne Rockwell (Author) R Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

A powerful picture book biography of one of the abolitionist movement's most compelling voices.

Sojourner Truth traveled the country in the latter half of the 19th century, speaking out against slavery. She told of a slave girl who was sold three times by age 13, who was beaten for not understanding her master's orders, who watched her parents die of cold and hunger when they could no longer work for their keep. Sojourner's simple yet powerful words helped people to understand the hideous truth about slavery. The story she told was her own.

Only Passing Through is the inspiring story of how a woman, born a slave with no status or dignity, transformed herself into one of the most powerful voices of the abolitionist movement. Anne Rockwell combines her lifelong love of history with her well-known skill as a storyteller to create this simple, affecting portrait of an American icon.

This book is currently unavailable.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review
Though writing in the third person, Rockwell (Bumblebee, Bumblebee, Do You Know Me?) here gives Sojourner Truth an authentic, resonant voice. Ably tailoring her account to a young audience, the author opens her story as nine-year-old Isabella is being sold at a slave auction in Kingston, N.Y., in 1806. The narrative follows the heroine through her transformation into ""Sojourner Truth,"" an itinerant preacher against the evils of slavery. After being denied the freedom that her master had promised her in 1826, the young woman escapes to the home of a nearby couple who abhor slavery; they then buy Isabella from her deceitful master and free her. Rockwell documents some remarkable incidents and demonstrates how far ahead of her time Isabella was: when her son is illegally sold to a plantation owner in another state, Isabella takes the perpetrator to court and wins the boy's freedom. ""No one had ever heard of such a thing. Slaves didn't do such things. Women didn't do such things. But Isabella did."" The author dramatically builds up to and convincingly recounts the pivotal moment when Isabella changes her name and vows to travel the country as ""a voice for all the silent slaves still in bondage."" Rockwell's vibrant storytelling, powerful content and moving author's note will likely send readers off to further reading about this extraordinary heroine. Christie (The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children) contributes stylized paintings that suggest a complex interior life for Sojourner. The artwork skillfully approaches the abstractDtwisting traditional perspective in a way that illuminates Sojourner's groundbreaking vision and voice. Ages 7-10. (Dec.)

Kirkus


Review quotes

Reviewed in Bookselling Kids' Pick of the Lists Part Two for October 2000.

"The facts in this picture-book biography speak as eloquently as its illustrations, which have an authority and passion recalling Jacob Lawrence's Harriet and the Promised Land."—The Horn Book, Starred Review

"The look and feel of a children's classic . . . a valuable addition to any child's library."
— The New York Times

"Rockwell's vibrant storytelling, powerful content and moving author's note will likely send readers off to further reading about this extraordinary heroine."
— Publishers Weekly, Starred

"It's a powerful story, well told and handsomely set; worth of its courageous subject." — The Horn Book Magazine, Starred
Anne Rockwell
Anne Rockwell (1934-2018) has written numerous books for children, including At the Beach and The First Snowfall, both illustrated by Harlow Rockwell.

Lizzy Rockwell has illustrated several books written by her mother as well as many of her own titles. She lives with her family in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9780440417668
Lexile Measure
790
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Dragonfly Books
Publication date
December 20, 2002
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF007050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Cultural Heritage
JNF007020 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Historical
JNF007080 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Religious
Library of Congress categories
African Americans
United States
Women
Abolitionists
African American women
Truth, Sojourner
African American abolitionists
Social reformers
Reformers
ALA
Notable Children's Book 2001

Subscribe to our delicious e-newsletter!