riding the trail: Cherokees Remember the Removal

2021 Remember the Removal War Cry

Video courtesy of Will Chavez

riding the trail: Cherokees Remember the Removal

Cover of Riding the Trail by Traci Sorell and Will Chavez

Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 9781623543143

August 25, 2026

Bags packed. Bicycles loaded. Now they’ll ride almost 1,000 miles in three weeks as part of the Cherokee Nation’s Remember the Removal ride.

Follow Cherokee youth on a journey that retraces the Trail of Tears—from Georgia to Oklahoma. They ride in order to remember history and to link the past and the present through culture, resilience, and activism.

They train for the ride, dive into the Cherokee language, and find out more about this important chapter in their tribe’s history.

This intriguing story, told in words and photographs, is about one year’s riders, and is penned by award-winning enrolled Cherokee Nation citizens— author Traci Sorell and journalist coauthor Will Chavez, who also served as the ride coordinator.

This does something no other book does—presents the Trail of Tears in a contemporary context. The youth who ride the trail each year are an example of the way that Cherokee people thrive today.

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Take a sneak peek inside…

Page from Riding the Trails by Traci Sorell

A page from Riding the Trail by Traci Sorell

RAVE REVIEWS

“By connecting the records of the Trail with the current experiences of young people who participate in the RTR ride, this title will draw readers interested in history, Indigenous studies, and sports.”

—School Library Journal
“In this affirming collaboration . . . Ample full-color photographs, maps, and diagrams spotlight the teens and the sites they visited along their journey, amplifying the historical resonance of this sobering look into tragedy and memory.”

—Publisher’s Weekly
“. . . Sorell describes the riders’ extensive training, the ride itself, and the range of emotions as riders visit places their ancestors lived and suffered while Chavez’s photos document these moments. The effect leaves readers with a modern look at the continuing impact of history.”

—Booklist