Pappy's Handkerchief

Pappy's Handkerchief, written by Devin Scillian, is about an African American family who is struggling to make ends meet in Baltimore Maryland. Moses is a young boy who helps his father sell fish, which just isn't providing for the family. He lives with his mother, father, grandparents, and 3 siblings. The house they live in is small and they need to get out of Baltimore. Moses' father meets a man named Liberty, who is an educated black man that can read. Liberty reads Moses' father the form from Oklahoma about land claims being given away to any American. Pa goes home and talks all night about the free land in Oklahoma and the family decides to make the long trip. They sell everything they have and face many trials as they make their way to Oklahoma to stake their own piece of land. Will they get the land they wanted? Will the U.S. Marshall's allow for the African American family to keep their claim?
I think that this is a great book to read in class about the westward expansion. The pictures in this book are amazing and provide the reader with great visuals to relate the text to. Another unit this could be used for is when students are learning about the end of slavery. It has some vocabulary that would need to be taught to students to get a good understanding of the book; having background knowledge of the Oklahoma Territory and western expansion would be ideal. I felt that this book would make for a great read in the classroom and would provide with some excitement amongst students as the book is read. I would recommend that teachers take a look at this book.