Teacher Guide: Crossing Bok Chitto by Tim Tingle

When Martha Tom, a young Choctaw girl, breaks her mother’s rules and crosses Bok Chitto, she gets lost and finds herself present at a meeting of the forbidden slave church. The man who finds her asks his son Mo to help her get back home. When Mo expresses fear at being caught by the plantation owners, his father teaches him how to walk and be invisible. Mo follows Martha Tom to her home and witnesses a Choctaw wedding ceremony. Both children are deeply affected by the other’s culture. They become friends. One day Mo’s mother is sold and will be forced to leave her family. Mo encourages his family to attempt crossing Bok Chitto by walking the way his father taught him. Miraculously, Mo’s family walk out their front door and remain invisible to the guards waiting outside. Martha Tom and her mother help the family cross Bok Chitto safely. Even the guards are deeply affected by what they see.