About this item
There is a river called Bok Chitto that cuts through Mississippi. In the days before the War Between the States, in the days before the Trail of Tears, Bok Chitto was a boundary. On one side of the river lived the Choctaws. On the other side lived the plantation owners and their slaves. If a slave escaped and made his way across Bok Chitto, the slave was free.Thus begins Crossing Bok Chitto, told by award-winning Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle and brought to life with the rich illustrations of Jeanne Rorex Bridges.Martha Tom, a young Choctaw girl, knows better than to cross Bok Chitto, but one dayin search of blackberriesshe disobeys her mother and finds herself on the other side. A tall slave discovers Martha Tom. A friendship begins between Martha Tom and the slaves family, most particularly his young son, Little Mo.
About the Author
Tim Tingle is an Oklahoma Choctaw and an award-winning author and storyteller. His great-great grandfather, John Carnes, walked the Trail of Tears in 1835, and his paternal grandmother attended a series of rigorous Indian boarding schools in the early 1900's. Responding to a scarcity of Choctaw lore, Tingle began collecting tribal stories in the early 90's. In 1992, Tingle began mentoring with Choctaw storyteller Charley Jones. He retraced the Trail of Tears to Choctaw homelands in Mississippi and began recording stories of tribal elders. His family experiences and these interviews with fellow Choctaws in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma----and surprise encounters with Choctaws as far away as Bethel, Alaska----are the basis of his most important writings. His latest middle grade novel, HOW I BECAME A GHOST, (Roadrunner Press, June 2013) , pulls heavily from these interviews. It is a fictional first-person account of a young boy who "becomes a ghost" on the Trail of Tears, but stays on the walk to help family and friends survive. Filled with humor and elements of traditional lore to soften the tragedy, HIBaG includes a shape-shifting panther/teenager, a five-year old ghost sister, a talking dog, and a headstrong teenage girl who refuses to give up. In the June 28 issue of Kirkus, HOW I BECAME A GHOST received a Starred Review, Tingle's first! Also, in late June of 2013, DANNY BLACKGOAT, NAVAJO PRISONER will be released. A HiLo novel, for teens who read on a more basic level, this tale follows the misadventures of a tough sixteen year-old on the Navajo Long Walk of 1864. Danny fights bullying soldiers, rattlesnakes, and his own fiery temper, till he meets an older prisoner who devises a dangerous escape plan. HOUSE OF PURPLE CEDAR, Tingle's first adult novel, is set for release in January of 2014. Fifteen years in the crafting, this novel describes the struggles of Choctaws in pre-statehood Oklahoma, through the eyes of a young girl who witnesses the burning down of New Hope Academy boarding school. Filled with hope in the most tragic of circumstance, HoPC is Tingle's testiment to Choctaw elders who continue to watch over the well-being of the Choctaw Nation and its people. An adventure novel with strong elements of magic realism, HOUSE OF PURPLE CEDAR is already generating much interest among reviewers. Every Labor Day, Tingle performs a Choctaw story before Chief Gregory Pyle's State of the Nation Address, a gathering that attracts over ninety thousand tribal members and friends. In June of 2011, Tingle spoke at the Library of Congress and presented his first performance at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C. He was also a tribal storyteller at "Choctaw Days," a celebration honoring the Oklahoma Choctaws at the Smithsonian. He has been a featured storyteller at festivals in forty-two states, including five appearances at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn
