In a picture story set shortly after the U.S. Civil War, Cornelius tells about the Quaker school he and his four brothers attend so they can learn to read and write, skills that had been denied them in slavery times. When their little sister, Virgie, insists that girls need to know how to read and write, too, the family agrees that she can accompany her brothers when school starts up again in the fall. On the first day of school, they must get up early so that Virgie and her brothers can make the seven-mile walk to school. They walk across fields, past farm houses, and even through the scary woods where they keep an eye out for old Raw Head and Bloody Bones. Virgie is clearly delighted by everything she sees and is anxious to get started on “learning to be free.” This fine tribute to the African American struggle for education, based on the author’s own family history, can also be read as a warm family story which revolves around a strong-willed little sister. Sun-dappled watercolor paintings portray all five of the siblings as unique individuals. Honor Book, CCBC 2001 Caldecott Award Discussion (Ages 5-8)

Virgie was always begging to go to school with us boys.

""Papa, Mama, can I go too?""

My brothers had doubts. School was seven miles away -- a long way from Mama. Virgie was scarcely big as a field mouse. How could she make the trip? And girls didn't really need school. But I got to thinking: Virgie was free like we were. Free to learn. And didn't girls need to know how to write and add too? Mama and Papa thought so. And one summer, they decided to do something about it.

That was the year Virgie came to school with us boys. And she sure showed us!