{"id":42710,"date":"2025-02-21T09:12:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T14:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/?p=42710"},"modified":"2025-02-21T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T14:13:00","slug":"wills-race-for-home-by-jewell-parker-rhodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/wills-race-for-home-by-jewell-parker-rhodes\/","title":{"rendered":"*Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Will\u2019s Race for Home is a classic coming-of-age story set during the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Will\u2019s Race for Home <\/em>by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Little, Brown, 2025, 190 pages.<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Reading Level<\/strong>: Middle Grades<\/a>, ages 8-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended for<\/strong>: ages 8-14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Samuel\u2019s father never smiles. Life is hard on the Texas plains, but it seemed as though any pleasure Father might have had in his wife or son dried up years ago, when he and Will\u2019s Grandpa escaped from Louisiana, right after Emancipation.  Now a sharecropper\u2019s meager portion is all Will\u2019s family have to look forward to\u2014until word comes of land opening up in Oklahoma, just north of the Red River. On April 22, 1889, there\u2019s going to be a \u201cland rush\u201d for anyone who can get to the starting line with a good mount and race to stake a claim as soon as the starting gun goes off. In a flash, Father determines their future is Oklahoma. He and Will load a wagon with provisions and hitch up Belle, their faithful mule. Mama and Grandpa will stay behind until the men of the family locate their fresh start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will is excited for the adventure and hopeful for a better relationship with his father, though their journey is beset by weather, rough terrain, and the antagonism of some whites resentful of their efforts to better themselves. Fortunately\u2014or not\u2014they encounter an ally early in the journey: a cool, capable black man on a beautiful black horse, who calls himself Caesar. Not a gunfighter, which is Will\u2019s first impression, but a former Union soldier. Though he has his own plans and ambitions, Caesar falls in with the Samuels, and Will quickly succumbs to hero-worship. But there\u2019s something mysterious about Caesar\u2014dangerous, even. Will he be more help, or  hindrance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will\u2019s Race for Home<\/em> is subtitled \u201cA Western,\u201d and it has classic western elements, such as the mysterious Shane-like figure of Caesar. It\u2019s more a coming-of-age story about a boy growing to manhood under the harsh demands of the old west. Along the way, Will must make some very hard choices and face the worst of what he could become, but his family\u2019s religious faith both pricks his conscience and guides it. His hard-won victory at the end is tinged with regret but also hope for a more promising future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom Line<\/strong>: An excellent historical novel with psychological depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also at Redeemed Reader:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n