Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation

Patrice Sherman

Jan 2010 · Eerdmans Young Readers

About this ebook

Ben, a young slave, uses every chance he gets to teach himself to read, practicing with the words he sees on street signs and in shop windows and even in cast-off newspapers he finds in the gutter.

But after the Civil War breaks out, his master leaves town and Ben finds himself in a slave prison. One night, the prisoners bribe a guard to get their hands on a newspaper, and to the applause of his fellow slaves, Ben reads aloud the momentous news of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation -- surely one of the most remarkable readings of that document ever.

Based on the true story of Benjamin Holmes, Pat Sherman's stirring text and the memorable illustrations of Coretta Scott King medalist Floyd Cooper pay tribute to the power of freedom -- and to the power of the written word.

About the author

Floyd Cooper was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 8, 1956. He received a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma. After graduating, he worked as an artist for a major greeting card company. In 1984, he came to New York City to pursue a career as an illustrator of books. The first book he illustrated was Grandpa's Face written by Eloise Greenfield. He received a Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in The Blacker the Berry and a Coretta Scott King Honor for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea and I Have Heard of a Land. Floyd Cooper illustrator, and author, published over 96 books. On July 16, 2021, he died from cancer in Easton, PA. He was 65.