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1-time National Bestseller, Juvenile Fiction
Will’s Race for Home Debuted at #6 on the New York Times Bestsellers List, February 2, 2025
Bestselling and award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes goes West in this thrilling adventure story about a son and his father who set out to win land during the Oklahoma Land Rush—if they can survive the journey.
It’s 1889, barely twenty-five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and a young Black family is tired of working on land they don’t get to own.
So when Will and his father hear about an upcoming land rush, they set out on a journey from Texas to Oklahoma, racing thousands of others to the place where land is free—if they can get to it fast enough. But the journey isn’t easy—the terrain is rough, the bandits are brutal, and every interaction carries a heavy undercurrent of danger.
And then there’s the stranger they encounter and befriend: a mysterious soldier named Caesar, whose Union emblem brings more attention—and more trouble—than any of them need.
All three are propelled by the promise of something long denied to them: freedom, land ownership, and a place to call home—but is a strong will enough to get them there?
List Price: $17.99
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 14, 2025)
Fiction, Hardcover, 256 pages
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
More Info
Additional Book Information:
- ISBN: 9780316299336
- Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Publisher: Hachette Book Group
- Parent Company: Lagardère Group
Books similar to Will’s Race for Home may be found in the categories below:
- JUVENILE FICTION / African American & Black
- Juvenile Fiction / Historical / United States / 19Th Century
- Juvenile Fiction / Westerns
Biography of Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes currently serves as the Piper Endowed Chair and founding artistic director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
Her novel, Ghost Boys, quickly became a New York Times Best Seller and has garnered over 25 awards and honors, including The Walter Award, the Indies Choice/EB White Read-Aloud Award, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Older Readers. Jewell is also the author of Towers Falling, winner of the 2017 Notable Books for a Global Society, and the celebrated Louisiana Girls’ Trilogy: Ninth Ward, a winner of a Coretta Scott King Honor Award; Sugar, a Junior Library Guild selection, and Bayou Magic, a We Need Diverse Books Educational Selection. Her newest middle grade novel, Black Brother, Black Brother was published March 3, 2020.
Jewell has written numerous children’s and adult books hoping to inspire social justice, equality, and environmental stewardship. She enjoys teaching, walking her Toy Aussie Sheepdogs, theater, dancing, and music. Born in Pittsburgh, she now lives in Seattle, Washington.
Rhodes’ daughter, Kelly McWilliams, is also a published author.
Learn more at Jewell Parker Rhodes’s official website.
About The Author
