Up the Learning Tree

Review
By Booklist

Master Grismore says he’ll take an ax to the finger of any slave who touches a book.” Slave child Henry Bell risks serious punishment when he secretly learns to read and write, first by listening to white kids in the schoolhouse, and then with help from the young teacher, Miss Hattie. Even when Miss Hattie’s “treachery” is discovered and she’s driven away by angry plantation owners, Henry knows that he will secretly continue to learn because it will help him escape slavery… The focus on one brave child will bring listeners close to the cruel historical facts and the message about the power of literacy.