This month's book reviews

Can a boy who was bitten badly as a baby
get beyond his fear of dogs?

Ricky had been attacked by a big dog when he was just a little kid in St. Louis. He had to have sixty-three stitches to patch him up and, later, had to have a painful series of rabies shots. Now they had moved to a 160 acre farm in Oklahoma, and, even though he was older, Ricky had a total fear of any dogs, even little ones. He freaked out when one came near him.

There were a lot of cats that hung around the barn. Ricky noticed one day that a skinny stray of a dog was trying to eat with the cats when his mom put out food for them in the evening. The cats turned on the little dog and ran him off to hide somewhere away from the barn. Later on the next evening, Ricky was stacking hay bales in the barn when he saw the puppy. He was so frightened at the dog that he climbed up out of the way and was about to miss his supper because he was afraid to move. When his mom called "kitty, kitty," the pup ran to try to get some food. Ricky was able to slip out of the barn and go in to the house. Of course, the cats chased the dog away once again without his getting anything to eat.

The puppy was so cute and friendly, Ricky started to feel sorry for him and sneak him food after dinner in the evenings. Only gradually did Ricky begin to accept the puppy as his pet and let the rest of the family know that he had himself a new dog. He named the dog "Kitty." As Ricky got over his fear of dogs, the kids at school no longer could tease him about his dog phobia. Ricky and Kitty go on to have some adventures together.

 

A young girl helps her family
survive during the War of 1812

When the British army invaded the new United States of America in 1812, Mackinaw Island, a great tourist attraction today, was taken over by the British invaders. Mary O'Shea was a twelve-year-old farm girl whose family was one of the few families who lived on the small island. Her family included her fifteen-year-old brother Jacque and her sixteen-year-old sister Angelique. Their mother was deceased and their father had left the island to join the American army At Fort Detroit. One of the other families had promised to help keep an eye on the three kids who stayed behind on the farm.

Mary was the level-headed one of the kids who tried to keep the farm running and the family self-supportive. Angelique was more into fashion and romance. She looked forward to the dances that the British officers held at the fort on Mackinaw after they took over the island. Jacque couldn't wait until he was old enough to move west with the fur traders who used the island as a trading center. Mary's best friend was Gavin, a half-Indian orphan who had been adopted and raised by a neighboring family.

As the war drew on, the hardships increased for the family. As food became scarcer for the British army on the island, the farmers were gradually being forced to give up their farm products to support the troops.

Angelique was attracted to one of the young, handsome British officers. It was just a matter of time until Jacque slipped away to join the fur traders. Mary was having a hard time keeping the family together. She was finding that her friend, Gavin, was becoming more handsome and attractive. He was wanting to find out more about his Indian family background, however, and she feared he would leave the island altogether and join the tribe from which he had been adopted.

The story has a lot of questions to deal with. Will the Americans win the war? Will the father return safely? What happy ending is possible with Angelique falling in love with a British officer? Can Mary and Gavin ever hope to have a romance? Will Jacque be successful as a fur trader in the west? You need to read this little historical novel to find out.

 

Two boys of different races come
to examine their attitudes toward each other

Phil, a sixth grader, was hurrying to class through the crowded school hallway. He saw the back of his brother's jacket up ahead. When he yelled, "Hey, Jimmy," the kid in the jacket didn't turn around. Jimmy had forgotten his lunch money that morning when he left the house. Phil was trying to get the money to him. But the boy in the jacket wasn't Jimmy. Phil grabbed the boy and yelled, asking the younger kid why he was wearing Jimmy's jacket. The boy, who was a black kid named Daniel, pulled away and said it was his jacket and he didn't even know Jimmy. Teachers were immediately drawn to what was just about to become a fight in the hall. Both boys were taken to the principal's office.

Phil was sure the jacket was his brother's because it had been his jacket first before he outgrew it. His mother had bought it for him when she was on a trip to Italy. But to his total embarrassment, it turned out to have been given to Daniel by his grandmother who had received it from Phil's mother just a few days earlier. Daniel was so furious, he threw the jacket on the office floor and angrily went to his classes. How could Phil ever make it up to Daniel for making a scene and accusing him of being a thief? Is it even possible? Why had he immediately accused Daniel of being a thief? Was it because Daniel was black that Phil had rushed to judgment? The rest of the story is concerned with how Phil tries to connect with Daniel and in some way bring them to a better understanding of each other.

 

Bill Cody's Life as a Kid Before
Becoming Famous as Buffalo Bill

Bill Cody had spent his childhood in a Mississippi River town called Le Claire in Iowa. When this story begins, the Cody family is getting ready to move to Kansas, where the government had just opened up new land for people to farm. All they had to do to get free land was file a claim and build a home on the land.

Bill's teen-aged older brother, Sammy, recently had been killed when his horse fell on him. The parents were so saddened by the loss that they wanted to move further west and start over. Bill was only eight-years-old when, along with his two sisters, the family moved west. Bill was especially proud that his father let him ride a horse in front of the two covered wagons and the family carriage. At this young age, he already felt like a scout moving through what had earlier been Indian territory.

The mother and two sisters are left with an uncle's family as Bill and his father ride on westward to file a claim on land that they hope can become their new home. With some help from a distant cousin, Bill and his father build a temporary cabin. The cousin is a young buckskin-clad frontiersman that Bill comes to admire. When Mr. Cody is sure that his claim is recognized by the government, he travels back to get his wife and daughters. Bill is thrilled that his father trusts him to stay behind with his cousin and protect their claim. There is danger and a surprising tension in this new land. People are dividing into two hostile groups - those who support slavery and those who oppose it.

These experiences in growing up help young Bill to develop into the man who would become one of the most famous heroes of the West - Buffalo Bill Cody. This little book, with the subtitle "To the Frontier," is the first in a series of books by E. Cody Kimmel that detail Buffalo Bill's life.