This book was awarded the AILA American Indian Youth Literature Award ( )

Tells a story that is not well known, about how Choctaw members helped slaves escape, and blended their communities. Beautiful picture book, powerful story. ( )

I absolutely loved this book. I think I would show it primarily to intermediate aged students because the content is more mature and needs more of and older understanding to comprehend the importance of the story being told. It tells of the story of friendship, family, and how two cultures can come together to help one another and show appreciation. I would use this in my class to teach the importance of acceptance and how we all come from different places but that should not keep us from creating close personal connections. ( )

This story would be a good fit for primary grade levels. This is a story about Martha Tom, a Choctaw girl and Mo an African American slave who develop an unexpected friendship when Mo must sneak her home across the river. Later in the story when their friendship has continued to grow Mo and his family must sneak away when they discover their mother has been sold and will be taken away from them. The Choctaw tribe helps Mo and his family disappear across the river to freedom.
This would be a good fit for units on slavery or friendship. ( )

This book would be good for intermediate grades. This story does talk about slavery, so this would be a book for older students.

This book is about a girl named Martha Tom. One morning she goes to collect berries and sees a group of slaves on the other side of the river singing. She walks over and begins to head back home. On her way home she gets lost and and one of the little boys who is a slave walks her back to the other side of the river to make sure that she gets home safe. She teaches Moses how to walk across the river. He goes back home and find out that his mother has been sold. This means that their family will be separated and they will not see them again. Moses has the idea for them to try and escape. He takes the way that Martha Tom taught him. Martha and her mother help guide them across. He brings his family safely across the river and they are free.

This is a great way to teach our students about Indian Americans and slavery. It is a success story about how slaves were able to escape. I would use this in my classroom to introduce the topic of slavery. This is a good way to dip our toes into the topic. ( )