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Available copies

  • 2 of 2 copies available at LARL/NWRL Consortium.
  • 2 of 2 copies available at Lake Agassiz Regional Library. (Show preferred library)

Current holds

0 current holds with 2 total copies.

Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Crookston Public Library J TIN (Text) 33500013080932 New Available -
Detroit Lakes Public Library J TIN (Text) 33500013080940 New Available -

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781620148235
  • ISBN: 1620148234
  • Physical Description: 325 pages : map ; 20 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: [New York] : Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, [2019]

Content descriptions

Summary, etc.:
Martha Tom knows better than to cross the Bok Chitto River to pick blackberries. The Bok Chitto is the only border between her town in the Choctaw Nation and the slave-owning plantation in Mississippi territory. The slave owners could catch her, too. What was she thinking? But crossing the river brings a surprise friendship with Lil Mo, a boy who is enslaved on the other side. When Lil Mo discovers that his mother is about to be sold and the rest of his family left behind. But Martha Tom has the answer: cross the Bok Chitto and become free. Crossing to freedom with his family seems impossible with slave catchers roaming, but then there is a miracle -- a magical night where things become unseen and souls walk on water. By morning, Lil Mo discovers he has entered a completely new world of tradition, community, and... a little magic. But as Lil Mo's family adjusts to their new life, danger waits just around the corner. In an expansion of his award-winning picture book Crossing Bok Chitto, acclaimed Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle offers a story that reminds readers that the strongest bridge between cultures is friendship. Provided by publisher.
Target Audience Note:
3-7.
3-7
Reviews

  • Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 May #2
    *Starred Review* On one side of Mississippi's Bok Chitto River is the plantation where Lil Mo and his family are enslaved. On the other is a settlement whose residents are members of the Choctaw Nation. After a Choctaw girl, Martha Tom, shows Lil Mo an underwater stone bridge, Lil Mo and his family are able to escape when his mother is about to be sold away. The story that follows is a potent mix of history, folkways, and friendship, often wrapped in a gossamer web of magic realism. Tingle, a member of the Choctaw Nation, draws on the group's own stories to spin a tale that begins slowly but builds and twists, until the tension and intensity will have readers at the edge of their chairs. Tingle does a particularly fine job depicting relationships. Lil Mo finds a wise yet funny uncle among the Choctaw, who helps him acclimate to a different way of life, while showing him how to see through new eyes. But other relationships are examined beyond the primary ones. Lil Mo has left behind a white friend, whose father, though one of the guards on the settlement, is not unsympathetic to Mo's family's plight. Even the maneuverings of the plantation owner are explored. The book soars, almost literally, when Lil Mo's soul is stolen by an Owl Man, a witch, whose dramatic machinations, along with those of other spirit-filled characters, give this an indelible glow. Grades 5-8. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Search for related items by subject

Subject: Choctaw Indians > Juvenile fiction.
Slavery > Juvenile fiction.
Friendship > Juvenile fiction.
Indians of North America > Mississippi > Juvenile fiction.
Mississippi > History > 19th century > Juvenile fiction.
Choctaw Nation > Fiction.
Rivers > Fiction.
Child slaves > Fiction.
Fugitive slaves > Fiction.
Friendship > Fiction.
Genre: Novels.
Historical fiction.
Fantasy fiction.

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