This book is about a black girl named Jessie and her family leaving Alabama to head up north to Nebraska so her daddy can get a better job, and she and her siblings can live a better life. The problem is that Jessie doesn’t want to go. She likes living in Alabama close to family and loves gatherings at Big Mama’s. Before they set off, she said goodbye to all of her family and friends and dug her feet into the red Alabama soil; she knew she would miss it. Along their journey they watch as the world rolled by; sand, fields, pines, people. As the people got smaller the trip got longer, as the road whispered her along, they stopped for lunch and gasoline. Set in the 1960s, Jessie’s family finds it difficult to travel through the segregated south…it took them quite a while to find a gas station that would serve Negroes. They drove all through the night and the next day made it to Nebraska. Jessie noticed how different from Alabama was; black dirt and a grassy rug. The family gathers once they’re out of the car and holds on to one another as they take the step to becoming pioneers with a brand-new life.
Implementation: When starting a social studies unit on Civil Rights, this book would best be used in a book pass. It would also be great as a read aloud because it has such a lyrical text to it and the pictures are so vivid and pretty. Another teachable aspect of this book includes the impact of change. This girl is up and moving away from everything she’s known to start over; I think many students could relate to that.
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