This quintessential middle grade biography of Harriet Tubman now features a foreword written and read by National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds and additional new material. A selection of the Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List.

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was praised by the New Yorker as “an evocative portrait,” and by the Chicago Tribune as “superb.” It is a gripping and accessible portrait of the heroic woman who guided more than 300 slaves to freedom and who is expected to be the face of the new $20 bill.

Harriet Tubman was born a slave and dreamed of being free. She was willing to risk everything–including her own life–to see that dream come true. After her daring escape, Harriet became a conductor on the secret Underground Railroad, helping others make the dangerous journey to freedom.

This award-winning introduction to the late abolitionist, which was named an ALA Notable Book and a New York Times Outstanding Book, also includes a supplemental PDF with educational back matter such as a timeline, discussion questions, and extension activities.

(c)1955 Ann Petry; copyright renewed 1983 Ann Petry; foreword copyright 2018 Jason Reynolds (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

With a new introduction from New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones, The Street was Ann Petry’s first novel, originally published in 1946 and hailed by critics as a masterwork.
The Street tells the poignant, often heartbreaking story of Lutie Johnson, a young black woman, and her spirited struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s.

Lutie is confronted by racism, sexism, and classism on a daily basis in her pursuit of the American dream for herself and her son, Bub. Lutie fully subscribes to the belief that if she follows the adages of Benjamin Franklin by working hard and saving wisely, she will be able to achieve the dream of being financially independent.

The first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies, its haunting tale still resonates today.

&#8220Petry is the writer we have been waiting for; hers are the stories we need to fully illuminate the questions of our moment, while also offering a page-turning good time. Ann Petry, the woman, had it all, and so does her insightful, prescient and unputdownable prose.&#8221—Tayari Jones, New York Times Book Review