<P align=center> I have heard of a land<BR>Where the imagination has no fences<BR>Where what is dreamed one night<BR>Is accomplished the next day</FONT></P><P>In the late 1880s, signs went up all around America - land was free in the Oklahoma territory. And it was free to everyone: Whites, Blacks, men and women alike. All one needed to stake a claim was hope and courage, strength and perseverance. Thousands of pioneers, many of them African-Americans newly freed from slavery, headed west to carve out a new life in the Oklahoma soil.</P><P> Drawing upon her own family history, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas has crafted an unforgettable anthem to these brave and determned people from America's past. Richly illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award honoree Floyd Cooper, <i>I Have Heard of a Land</i> is a glorious tribute to the Afrian-American pioneer spirit. </P> <P>00-01 Sequoyah Children's Book Award Masterlist</P>