Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell

Rockwell, A. (2000). Only passing through: the story of Sojourner Truth. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

Summary:
This is a partial biography about a slave girl named Isabella, who would later come to call herself Sojourner Truth. It begins with Isabella, who was nine years old at the time, being sold in New York in 1806 and goes through her being sold multiple times and one of her children being sold across state lines. Isabella took the plantation owner to court and won her little boy back. This was highly unusual for a woman, especially an African American woman. This is a story about the travels of Sojourner while she went around and spoke to large crowds about slavery.

Ages:
Pre-K through 2nd grade

Credibility of Author:
In the author’s note, Anne Rockwell said she used many books that have been written about Sojourner Truth, but mostly her autobiography, although she does not include a bibliography.

National Standards that this book relates to:
The Social Studies standards addressed are People, Places, Environments, and Cultures.

Access Features:
This book includes an author’s note and a timeline

Description of the Illustrations:
The illustrations were drawn by R. Gregory Cristie using acrylic paint and colored pencils.

My response to the book:
I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about Sojourner Truth that I did not know. I always thought that Sojourner was her real name, not that she changed it from Isabella. She did this because a sojourner is a person who moves from place to place, not staying to long in a single place. This book would be excellent for children to learn the background of Sojourner Truth.

How I would use this book in my class:
I would use this book during black history month when we studied Sojourner Truth so that the students would have a broader understanding of who she was and why she accomplished the many things that she did during her life.