DR. JEWELL PARKER RHODES is an award-winning author and educator for both youth and adults.She is the author of 20 books including the New York Times bestsellers Black Brother, Black Brother and Ghost Boys which has won over 50 honors and awards. Her work has been widely translated into numerous languages: French, Romanian, German, Korean, Italian, Persian, Mandarin, and Japanese. The driving force behind all of her work is to inspire social justice, equity, and environmental stewardship. Her novel, Treasure Island:Runaway Gold is a Junior Library Guild Selection and cited as a 2023 Best Book by both Kirkus and Booklist.  Soul Steps and Will’s Race for Home are her latest young readers titles.

Jewell is the author of six adult novels: Voodoo Dreams, Magic City, Douglass’ Women, Season, Moon, and Hurricane, as well as the memoir Porch Stories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness, and two writing guides, Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Non-Fiction.

Jewell has won the American Book Award, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, the Jane Addams Peace Association Book Award, the Walter Award, and the Prix des Libraries du Quebec, among many others.

Jewell is the Founding Artistic Director and Piper Endowed Chair at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Carnegie-Mellon University. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she currently lives in Seattle.

WILL’S RACE FOR HOME

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?