Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom
Written by: Tim Tingle
Illustrated by: Jeanne Rorax Bridges
Elementary Grades
"Dramatic, quiet, and warming, this is a story of friendship across cultures in 1800s Mississippi. While searching for blackberries, Martha Tom, a young Choctaw, breaks her village's rules against crossing the Bok Chitto. She meets and becomes friends with the slaves on the plantation on the other side of the river, and later helps a family escape across it to freedom when they hear that the mother is to be sold. Tingle is a performing storyteller, and his text has the rhythm and grace of that oral tradition. It will be easily and effectively read aloud. The paintings are dark and solemn, and the artist has done a wonderful job of depicting all of the characters as individuals, with many of them looking out of the page right at readers. The layout is well designed for groups as the images are large and easily seen from a distance. There is a note on modern Choctaw culture, and one on the development of this particular work. This is a lovely story, beautifully illustrated, though the ending requires a somewhat large leap of the imagination."
School Library Journal Review
Awards:
Texas Bluebonnet Nominee, 2008-2009
American Indian Youth Literature Award, 2008
Web Resources:
www.cincopuntos.com/pdf/crossing_bok_chitto_guide.pdf
http://suzyred.com
/2008crossingbokchitto.html
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