There have been many books, kids books, and films about Harriet Tubman, and rightly so, given her bravery and historical importance. I’d say that one of these, Harriet and the Promised Land, illustrated by Jacob Lawrence, even qualifies as great, due to Lawrence’s art.
Caroline Brewer’s 2025 picture book Harriet Tubman, Force of Nature: A biography in poems is a worthy addition to this tally. Given when Tubman lived, how she lived, and where her heroics took place, it makes great sense that she would have a close relationship with nature…but I’d never given it much thought. Brewer does, evoking a sense of Tubman in a natural context through a series of poems and original illustrations. While the poems do fit together into a larger whole (Tubman’s story), they also stand alone, and could be easily used as prompts for writing, or to spark student art. Brewer’s illustrations are multimedia collage, and are quite striking: they capture both energy and motion.
A useful addition to the Tubman tradition.
