Harriet Tubman Freedombound

Written By Karen Stinson

By Janet and Geoff Benge

Book Guide copyright 2026 by K. A. Stinson. Feel free to use it in your home, classroom, book club, or homeschool!

There are many excellent books about Harriet Tubman written for children and teens. Students in my book club and literature classes have enjoyed Harriet Tubman: Freedombound. Like many kids’ biographies, it is based on historical facts, but is told in narrative form and reads like a novel. The conversations are imagined by the authors, and the events may not have happened exactly as described. This thrilling book keeps kids (and adults) turning the pages as they read about Harriet’s entire life. It clearly presents the horrors of slavery, the dangers of the Underground Railroad, Harriet’s many other accomplishments, and the discrimination she continued to face even after slavery was outlawed. However, if your children/students are doing research for a report or project, a strictly factual account would be better. Scroll down for lots of information about Harriet Tubman! 

Here’s a link to Amazon for your convenience, but consider using your local library or bookstore.

Here are some lists of kids’ books about Harriet Tubman. (I can’t recommend books I haven’t read, so check out the online reviews.)

If you have younger kids, check out my book guide to Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, a Caldecott Honor picture book written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

IDEAS FOR BRINGING HARRIET TUBMAN: FREEDOMBOUND (OR ANY BOOK ABOUT HARRIET TUBMAN) ALIVE 

1. Keep your eyes open for misinformation about Harriet Tubman that turns up in MANY books and articles, including some of the resources in this guide. For example, Harriet herself claimed to have rescued around 72 people, not 300 as many sources claim, and there is no historical evidence for a bounty of $40,000 on her. Here are some more myths and the correct facts:

2. Learn more about Harriet Tubman online. These suggestions are the tip of the iceberg!

Here’s a brief one-page overview of Harriet Tubman’s life:

Here’s a more detailed article with images and videos of historical artifacts:

Here’s an interesting 7-minute video about Harriet Tubman:

Here are some notable quotes:

2. Check out these websites with loads of maps and information about Harriet Tubman’s travels on the Underground Railroad and her home in Auburn, NY. These make enjoyable reading, and are useful for planning visits to the many historic sites related to Harriet.

3. Visit a history museum! Here are some African American History museums around the country. Check individual listings to see which museums have exhibits about Harriet Tubman and/or the Underground Railroad.

4. See a play, musical, concert, or other performance related to the Underground Railroad or Black History in general. These are most abundant during Black History Month in February, but you should be able to find some throughout the year.

5. Read books about The Underground Railroad and the Civil War. Here are two that I recommend:

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ABOUT HARRIET TUBMAN

The general questions would apply to any book about Harriet Tubman. The chapter-by-chapter questions are specific to Harriet Tubman: Freedombound by Janet and Geoff Benge.

GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT HARRIET TUBMAN

1. Tell something brave Harriet Tubman did and why it required courage.

2. How do you think Harriet Tubman found the strength to repeatedly put her life in danger for the sake of other people?

3. Tell about someone else in Harriet’s story who bravely helped others in the face of risks to themselves.

4. Tell an important lesson you have learned from reading about Harriet Tubman. How can you apply this lesson in your own life?

5. Name another historical person who reminds you of Harriet Tubman in some way and tell why.

6. What was your favorite part of Harriet’s story and why?

CHAPTER BY CHAPTER QUESTIONS FOR HARRIET TUBMAN: FREEDOMBOUND BY JANET AND GEOFF BENGE

Chapter 1

NOTE: This chapter takes place when Harriet is already grown up.  

1.  Where were Harriet, Jim, and the others going?

2.  How did Harriet get Jim to keep on going with the group?

3. Why was Harriet known as “Moses”?

Chapter 2

NOTE: This chapter goes back to when Harriet was a child. FYI Harriet’s birth name was Araminta. She changed her name to Harriet (her mother’s name) when she got married. This book refers to her as Harriet throughout her whole life.

1. Why did Harriet’s slave master want to see her?

2. Where did Harriet go in the wagon?

3. Where did Harriet see her father?  What did he do after he saw Harriet?

Chapter 3

1.  What work did Harriet do for Mrs. Cook?

2.  What work did Harriet do for Mr. Cook?

3.  Why did Harriet end up back home again?

4.  What work did Harriet do for Miss Susan and Miss Emily?

5. Describe the incident with the sugar cube.  

Chapter 4

1. Where did Harriet find a place to stay, and what did she eat there?

2. What is “pluck”? Why did Harriet’s mother say, “Lord knows pluck is a dangerous thing.”

3. What happened to make white slave owners afraid?  What changes did they make as a result?

4. Explain what happened when Jim tried to escape.

Chapter 5

1. Describe Harriet’s injury. What strange symptom did she have as a result of it?

2. Harriet dreamed of being able to buy her freedom.  What did she find out when she talked to her master?

3. Describe Harriet’s husband John.  

4. Describe Harriet’s conversation with the Quaker woman.  What kind of “helping hand” do you think the woman was offering to Harriet?

Chapter 6

1. Why did Harriet decide she needed to escape right away?

2. What happened when Harriet and her brothers tried to escape?

3. When Harriet decided to escape alone, how did she let her sister Mary Ann know that she was going?

4. Why was Harriet afraid to knock at the Quaker woman’s door?

5. What did the Quaker woman tell Harriet?

Chapter 7

1. Why did Harriet try to walk in and through water as much as possible?

2. At the Hunns’ house, what did Harriet do for the first time?

3. What Delaware towns did Harriet pass through on her way to freedom?

4. Describe how Harriet felt when she crossed the border from Delaware into Pennsylvania.

5. What did Harriet tell William Still that she planned to do? How did he respond?

Chapter 8

1. The last provision of the Compromise of 1850 was the Fugitive Slave Act. Why were Black people and White abolitionists so upset about it? 

2. Why did Mary Ann and her family urgently need to run away to the North?

3. What did Harriet do to help?

Chapter 9

1. Why did Harriet move to Canada?

2. What happened when Harriet went back to Maryland to ask her husband John to come North with her?

3. How did Harriet get a message to her brothers to let them know she was coming to take them North?

4. Why did Harriet’s father talk to her but not look at her?

5. What bad thing happened to Thomas Garrett as a result of his work helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad?  Did he continue to help slaves escape anyway?

Chapter 10

1. Why did Joe decide to run away?

2. How did Harriet and the runaway slaves get across the bridge into Wilmington without getting caught?

4. How did Joe react when they crossed the border into Canada?

Chapter 11

1. Why would it take a lot of money for Harriet to rescue her parents?

2. What bad things did the U.S. Supreme Court declare in the Dred Scott case?

3. How did Harriet get her parents to freedom?

Chapter 12

1. What was John Brown’s plan for freeing the slaves?

2. Did Harriet like the idea of shipping freed slaves back to Africa?

3. What happened at Harper’s Ferry?

4. How did Harriet rescue Charles Nalle?

Chapter 13

1. After Abraham Lincoln was elected President, what did many southern states do?

2. What happened on April 12, 1861?

3. Name 3 things Harriet did to help the Union Army.

4. What happened on January 1, 1863?

Chapter 14

1. What new job did General Hunter offer Harriet?

2. What happened on the night of June 2, 1863?

3. What was unfair about the way the War Department paid soldiers?

4. In the spring of 1865 Harriet got another job. What was it?

5. What happened to Harriet on the train from Washington D.C. to Auburn, NY?

Chapter 15

1. How did the War Department treat Harriet unfairly?

2. After slavery became illegal, were Black people in America treated fairly?

3. What did Harriet do on March 18, 1869?

4. What kind and helpful thing did Harriet do in 1896?

5. What happened on March 10, 1913?

Karen Stinson
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