STAY PUT ROBBIE MCAMIS

When a wagon train accident separates a traveling family and strands five helpless children and Grammie in the Texas wilderness of 1848, it is up to twelve-year-old Robbie to find them food and shelter and help them all survive

Grade 5-7 Twelve - year - old Robbie McAmis and his family are part of a wagon train heading west. While fording a swollen stream during a storm, he and his cousins, along with their grandmother, are separated from the children's parents. The story consists of a series of adventures and overcoming mild hardships. Unfortunately, the plot is too contrived to be believable. There are food supplies, building materials, and tools in both wagons; they have two cows and some chickens; and wildlife is plentiful and seemingly easy to catch, shoot, or trap. Characterization is flat; everyone is just too good natured and resourceful in this tragic situation. Wordiness in the text causes confusion. Several times "would of" is used in conversation instead of the grammatically correct "would have" or "would've." There is not enough historical data to anchor the plot in time and place; problems are too easily overcome for this to be a convincing survival story. Nancy Kewish, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Cleveland
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