Crossing Bok Chitto

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Two young children become unlikely friends. After a short river crossing a young Native American girl and a slave boy meet while she is trying to pick berries for her mother. Over the years these two young people grow up in their respective cultures, continuing the friendship. One day, the young slave boy finds out in a sale his family will be broken up, so he turns to the only friend he has that can help him, the young Native American girl. She, along with her village, help the young boy and his family safely cross the Bok Chitto river.

This story shows the culture of both a Choctaw family, as well as a slave family. The reader, through the wonderfully drawn pictures, can see what the clothing and villages looked like for the Choctaw people, as well as the slave families. The theme of acceptance is one that is profoundly visible throughout this whole story.

To accompany this story, students could research the real Bok Chitto river and create a diorama of the area using the characters from the story. They could also research both Choctaw culture and the culture of the African American slaves featured in this story to better understand what is happening in this story. Each class can be broken into groups to research different aspects of this story to create one big project about this story.

This book was reviewed by School Library Journal, an excerpt of the review follows:

Grade 2-6–Dramatic, quiet, and warming, this is a story of friendship across cultures in 1800s Mississippi. 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. This is a lovely story, beautifully illustrated, though the ending requires a somewhat large leap of the imagination.–Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NY

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Citation:

Tingle, T. (2006). Crossing bok chitto: A choctaw tale of friendship and freedom. El Paso, TX Ill by: Jeanne R. Bridges: Cinco Puntos Press.