The Disappearing Man

“Go and get a box, and put yourself in it.” Henry Brown heard these words, but he didn’t know if he could believe them. A voice was telling Henry, a slave from Virginia, to climb into a wooden box and mail himself to freedom. Henry “Box” Brown’s story is one of the most incredible tales of escape in the history of the Underground Railroad—the secret network that helped slaves flee to the North. With the assistance of two other men, Henry Brown was sealed in a wooden box, 3 feet long, 2 feet, 8 inches high, and 23½ inches wide. Then he was mailed from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia, a 26-hour adventure in which he was stuck upside down for long, painful stretches, and at other times was dropped on the ground, nearly breaking his neck. 300 pages. Rating: T+ NOTE: This is NOT a graphic novel.