Rose Goode, a Choctaw Indian girl living in pre-statehood Oklahoma, must endure a life plagued by white land-grabbers, who savagely beat her grandfather and burn down her school, an event in which she is the only student to survive. - (Baker & Taylor)
Best Young Adult Novel, American Indian Library Association
A Choctaw tale of tragedy, good and evil, revenge and ultimately forgiveness, laced with healing Choctaw humor and a little magical realism thrown in.
"The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville."
Thus begins Rose Goode's story of growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson of New Hope Academy for Girls in 1896. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose escaped. She was blessed by the presence of her grandmother Pokoni and her grandfather Amafo, both respected elders who understand the old ways.
Soon after the fire, the White sheriff beats Amafo in front of the town's people, humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness. And so unfolds this tale of mystery, Indigenous magical realism, and deep wisdom. It's a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice.
Tim Tingle--a scholar of his nation's language, culture, and spirituality--tells Rose's story of good and evil with a local perspective and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.
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Lee & Low Books)
A Choctaw tale of tragedy, good and evil, revenge and ultimately forgiveness, laced with healing Choctaw humor and a little magical realism thrown in.
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Lee & Low Books)
A Choctaw tale of tragedy, white and Indians, good and evil, revenge and forgiveness, even humor and magic realism.
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Perseus Publishing)
"The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville." Thus begins Rose Goode's story of her growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson on New Year's Eve, 1896, of New Hope Academy for Girls. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose escaped. She is blessed by the presence of her grandmother Pokoni and her grandfather Amafo, both respected elders who understand the old ways. Soon after the fire, the white sheriff beats Amafo in front of the town's people, humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness. And so unwinds this tale of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and deep wisdom. It's a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice. Tim Tingle—a scholar of his nation's language, culture, and spirituality—tells Rose's story of good and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.
Tim Tingle, responding to a scarcity of Choctaw literature, began interviewing tribal elders in the early '90s. His collection Walking the Choctaw Road was the Oklahoma Book of the Year. Tingle's children's book, Crossing Bok Chitto, garnered over twenty state and national awards, including Best Children's Book from the American Indian Library Association, and was an Editor's Choice in the New York Times Book Review.
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Perseus Publishing)
"The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville." Thus begins Rose Goode's story of her growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson on New Year's Eve, 1896, of New Hope Academy for Girls. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose escaped. She is blessed by the presence of her grandmother Pokoni and her grandfather Amafo, both respected elders who understand the old ways. Soon after the fire, the white sheriff beats Amafo in front of the town's people, humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness. And so unwinds this tale of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and deep wisdom. It's a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice. Tim Tingle—a scholar of his nation's language, culture, and spirituality—tells Rose's story of good and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.
Tim Tingle, responding to a scarcity of Choctaw literature, began interviewing tribal elders in the early '90s. His collection Walking the Choctaw Road was the Oklahoma Book of the Year. Tingle's children's book, Crossing Bok Chitto, garnered over twenty state and national awards, including Best Children's Book from the American Indian Library Association, and was an Editor's Choice in the New York Times Book Review.
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Perseus Publishing)
Tim Tingle is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a frequent speaker at tribal events. His great-great grandfather, John Carnes, walked the Trail of Tears in 1835, and memories of this family epic fuel his writing and storytelling.
Author of six books, Tingle was a featured speaker at the Native American wing of the Smithsonian Institute in 2006 and 2007.
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Perseus Publishing)
Booklist Reviews
Set in pre-statehood Oklahoma (Indian Territory) in the final years of the nineteenth century, this novel travels from the poignant, even tragic, to the comic, while covering a community of Choctaw Indians and their white neighbors (nahullos), not excluding spirits. Tingle, Choctaw author of several children's books and the story collection Walking the Choctaw Road (2003), is most sure-footed in the sections narrated by Rose, who as a child witnesses the 1896 New Year's Eve burning of the New Hope Academy for Girls, causing the death of a deaf friend. Her tale begins, "Let us now talk of Skullyville," the eastern Oklahoma town where, along with the larger community of Spiro, the action unfolds. Rose's grandfather William Goode is attacked without provocation by the drunken town marshal, Hardwicke, an evil bully, who becomes the center of the story. Tingle portrays the townspeople's actions credibly and brings the unique setting of Skullyville to life in this singular tale of vengeance, compassion, and redemption. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
Library Journal Reviews
In 1896, as white settlers hungry for land flooded into Indian territory in what is now Oklahoma, a boarding school for Indian girls called the New Hope Academy was burned to the ground with a severe loss of life. It presaged the destruction of the Choctaw community, related here by fire survivor Rose Goode in measured but heartfelt language. VERDICT Tingle, who began interviewing Choctaw trible elders in the early 1990s, effectively recaptures a piece of buried history.
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