Will’s Race for Home: A Western by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown and Company for Young Readers, 2025) captures the excitement of the Kansas land rush in 1889 from the perspective of a young Black boy and his father. Sharecropping in Texas doesn’t feel any different from slavery for the family, so now Will and his father have the chance to get free and better land of their own in the Kansas territory with a long journey to settling in a new home. Twelve-year old Will has to step up and take his place as a young man amidst multiple dangers as he heads to the land rush that will become known as “Bloody Kansas.”
Will’s Race for Home describes Will’s coming of age through this journey and the dangers he encounters. After the emancipation of slavery for Will’s father (age 9) and grandpa, the two had traveled to Texas amid great hardship, facing difficulties that neither of Will’s relatives will discuss. Because of these difficulties, Will’s father hesitates to let his child join in the dangerous journey to Kansas. When he agrees, Will is determined to prove his worth as a young man. As a Blacks in a world so near to the contention of the Civil War, they face discrimination that others might not have faced. A former Union soldier, also a Black man, helps them through some of these difficulties. With his encouragement and his father’s Will can become the brave young hero that their family needs in order to get the land of their own.
In addition to be a character driven novel, Will’s Race for Home is an exciting action driven novel (especially at the end) as the reader hopes and anticipates Will’s success. As a middle grade novel, the novel’s end result won’t be a surprise. But Rhodes gives Will plenty of suspenseful difficulties along the way to keep the reader guessing just how the story will end.
In short, Will’s Race for Home is a strong historical fiction story with memorable and loveable characters that keeps the reader engaged and interested in the outcome. It provides a possibly new perspective on the difficulties Blacks faced post Civil War. As with many of Rhode’s novels, this one is written at a low reading level (3.6 AR) to provide accessibility for young tweens as well as middle schoolers.
