This month's book reviews

Against all odds, a twelve-year-old black boy
rides for the Pony Express

In 1860, Colton Wescott is traveling with his family on a wagon train headed to California. Colton's family is made up of his father, who is white, his mother, who is black, and three younger sisters. Mrs. Wescott is about to have another baby. The trip has not been a pleasant one. The Coltons are not treated very well by others on the wagon train. As a racially-mixed family, the Wescotts cope daily with racial prejudice. The oxen pulling their wagon are having a hard time keeping up with the wagon train. It's dry and already September and they are coping with constant dust being kicked up on the trail. The leader of the train warns them to keep up or be left behind to travel by themselves.

As if they don't already have enough trouble, early one morning Colton's father accidentally fired his rifle and wounded Colton. Unable to deal with all his accumulated problems, the father got on his worn-out horse and rode away. Although they didn't know it at the time, the family was never to see the father again. The family was left on the trail somewhere in Utah Territory without a husband and father to keep them moving on to California. Suddenly, twelve-year-old Colton has his mother, three little sisters, and a sickly new-born baby brother - all dependent upon him.

Colton did manage for several more days to keep the wagon moving with the train. He managed to get help and keep going when one of the wheels broke on the wagon. But when he lost two of the four oxen, it was just impossible any longer to keep up with the wagon train. Two oxen had been butchered for food by members of the wagon train. One woman, feeling guilt over the butchering of the two animals, gave Colton a twenty-dollar gold piece.

The family put up a tent near an abandoned settlement. Sadly, the newborn baby had already died. The mother was ill and out of her head. Leaving his sisters to tend to their mother, Colton took off for a neighboring town to see if he could find a doctor. He could use the twenty dollars to buy some supplies for his mother and sisters and, possibly, he could find some kind of work.

It just happens that the town is a location where riders for the Pony Express are being recruited. Colton, who is an excellent rider, hopes that he can get hired to ride for the Express. The money is really good. Unfortunately, even though they are advertising for riders under eighteen years of age, twelve seems just too young, even for the Pony Express. Through an unusual set of circumstances, however, Colton does ride for the Pony Express and delivers some historically important mail to California. The mail is received just in time to keep California from joining the Confederate states in a revolt against the Union.

"Black Storm Comin'" by Diane Lee Wilson is filled with enough action and adventure to keep a reader gasping for breath.

The son of a Spanish bullfighter is expected
to follow in his father's steps

Manolo Olivar lived in the town of Arcangel in Spain. The town was known for one thing - the great bullfighter Juan Olivar was from there. However, Juan Olivar, Manolo's father, had been killed in the bull ring when Manolo was just three years old. Manolo grew up knowing that everybody in the town expected him to be a bullfighter just as his father had been. When he started to grow taller at age nine, a group of men in Arcangel began to take him to bullfights and coach him on the fine points of being a successful bullfighter. They almost couldn't wait until Manolo would be old enough to fight his first bull.

By the time he was nine, Manolo knew one thing for sure - he was a coward and had no desire to ever get in the ring with a bull. Still, he secretly practiced with the bullfighter's cape and tried to master the different moves used to confuse the bull in his attack. Sometimes he even managed to convince himself that he could be a famous bullfighter like his father. But most of the time he knew he would rather go on to school and become a doctor like the town doctor. He would rather treat and heal injuries than risk being gored by bulls.

Manolo had a friend in town, Juan Garcia, who was little and wiry and who desperately wanted to be bullfighter. Juan would sneak into pastures at night and try to practice fighting young bulls that were there. Manolo had gone with him and tried to face a bull himself. When he was old enough, the men in town set up Manolo's first attempt to fight a bull in public. However, Manolo convinced the men to also give Juan a chance to demonstrate his bullfighting ability. The men didn't expect much from Juan, since he was not the son of one of Spain's most famous bullfighters.

You need to read the book to find out how Manolo manages to bring a happy ending to his story without appearing to be a coward to his fellow townspeople.

 

A ghost who is a "nerd" teams up
with a boy who is also a "nerd"

Grey Arthur is a ghost. He's tried being a Chain Rattler, a Screamer, a Sadness Summoner, and even a Poltergeist. Somehow or other Arthur just didn't fit being any of these standard kinds of ghosts. After hundreds of years in ghost time, Arthur is still trying to figure out what his ghostly role is meant to be. Then one rainy day on a Tuesday in England on a bench in a park he made a discovery. He sadly was convinced that he'd never be what a ghost should be. It had started to rain and he had just said out loud "Life isn't fair." To his astonishment, he heard another voice saying simultaneously "Life isn't fair." Arthur had to seek out who else was voicing his same thoughts.

Not far from Arthur was a small normal-looking house. Coming out of the house were the complaints of a human boy, about eleven years old, and he was complaining "And I don't know what I've done to deserve this, and it's not my fault I'm a freak, and I don't see why they can't just leave me alone, and I wish I wasn't so lonely and I wish we hadn't had to move here and I wish I had a friend here and…" Arthur knew this had to be Tom Golden because a sign outside the boy's door read: KEEP OUT. BY ORDER OF TOM GOLDEN. And sure enough, there he was - a human boy, eyes red and puffy from tears, and one eye slightly purple around the corners. Arthur immediately knew what his ghostly role was to be; he was to become Tom's Invisible Friend. Of course, there was no way Tom knew he had a new friend, because, obviously, he couldn't see the ghost in his room.

The next day, Wednesday, Arthur accompanied Tom to school. He didn't like the noise and confusion, but what did a ghost know about schools? Yet, this first day, Arthur found out how an Invisible Friend could be helpful. For one thing, he could pick up a pen from another kid's desk without being seen, when Tom frantically realized he had forgotten to bring one in his schoolbag. Arthur also was able to get the teacher's attention by causing a pen to hit her on the back when, Big Ben, the class bully started to pick on Tom. Tom was saved from being socked in the face. Not bad for the first day's work!

The connection between Tom Golden and Arthur Grey gets to be even more hilarious when Tom finally, by accident, becomes able to see and hear Arthur. Since nobody else can see or hear Arthur, his parents and others begin to wonder just what seems to be wrong with Tom. He goes around talking to somebody who is not there! You will really find this ghost story fun to read.

A trendy and popular girl in her Texas school
moves with family to Maine

Cassie Knight is the most popular girl in her class at a Texas middle school. She was into unusual hair-dos for her red hair, bright and stylish clothes, colorful shoes, and lots of glitter and make-up. She was used to the "oh's" and "ah's" that came from her wide circle of friends when she showed up at school in her frequent new make-overs. As a trend-setter, Cassie just knew she would be elected class president next year. So you can imagine how she felt when she is told at dinner one night that her dad has been promoted in his company and the Knight family is moving to Maine - in just two weeks!

Cassie was expecting the worst when she showed up at her new school - it was old, dark, and foreboding. But it turned out even worse than she expected. Mary Ellen, the girl who seemed to dominate everything in her class, had a circle of witch-like friends. This group on the very first day began making fun of Cassie's clothes and appearance. Kids laughed at her "Texas twang." When she had tried to sit with a group of girls in the cafeteria and asked their names, two of them, known, she found out later, as the "Nightmare Twins," told her their names were "Go" and "Away." Later she was told in an unfriendly manner that they just didn't wear dresses at that school and, furthermore, in Maine's winters, it was essential to wear practical boots, not fancy flats. Cassie was totally humiliated the very first day. But, she sure wasn't going to cry and let these mean girls know they had gotten to her.

Things would have gone from bad to worse, if Cassie hadn't connected with a girl named Etoile. Etoile wore glasses, but somehow managed to look chic and classy. When they began to talk about clothes they both liked, Cassie knew she had found a friend. Between them, they decided to put some color in this bland school.

The big question is can Cassie, who is so different from the dominant clique in her new school, ever hope to be popular and seen as a leader the way she had been in her old school? You might enjoy reading the book "Miss Popularity" by Fransesco Sedita to find out how she accomplishes it.