Saddles, Stars, and Stripes: Blackwater Creek - Hardcover

Kent, Deborah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0753458853 ISBN 13: 9780753458853

Publisher: Kingfisher, 2005

Synopsis

Erika Nagys and her family have come to California from Hungary in search of gold. When they cannot pay the rent, Erika must go and work for their nasty landlord, the rancher Hart Latham. Erika forms a special bond with an injured filly named Arany, which she nurses back to health. When Arany escapes from the corral, Erika finds the horse -- and gold -- in Blackwater Creek. But will newfound riches solve her family's problems?

About this title

About the Author:

Deborah Kent has written eighteen young adult novels and more than fifty children's nonfiction titles. She has published three other books with Kingfisher in the Saddles, Stars & Stripes series: Chance of a Lifetime, Blackwater Creek, Riding the Pony Express. A graduate of Oberlin College and Smith College, Debra now lives in Chicago with her daughter and husband, the children's author R. Conrad Stein.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6–In Blackwater Creek, set in 1849, Hungarian immigrant Erika Nagy uses her skills with horses to pay off her familys rent debt. While she works for rancher Hart Latham, her brother and father search for gold in California. When an injured horse runs away, Erika tracks her down and, in the process, finds a gold claim her family can work so they can buy their own farm. All she has to do is protect it from Latham. In Lifetime, Jacquetta May Logan rescues some of her familys Morgan horses from being sent to war by the Yankee soldiers who turn her family home into a hospital. Her encounters with an enslaved brother and sister, Peace and Witness, who carry out the plan to hide the horses, and a Union soldier help her to see the goodness in people and start to question her views on slavery. Both of these adventure/horse stories rely heavily on their strong female protagonists to move the action along, and both have events that work out a little too neatly. Jacquettas sudden realization that slavery affects peoples lives seems forced, and Erika finding the filly on land that contains gold nuggets dont quite ring true, but girls who love horses wont care. Give these books to readers who are horse crazy and tired of Bonnie Bryants Saddle Club series (Random).–Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Kingfisher
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0753458853
• ISBN 13: 9780753458853
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 151