Kid Curry's Last Ride

Elderly Kid Curry, who claims to be an outlaw and ex-member of Butch Cassidy's gang, and twelve-year-old Alex Penrose III, a lawyer's son, decide to rob a bank in 1935 Wyoming

Grade 7-9 In 1903, Kid Curry, a member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch," was killed at Parachute, Colorado. Jump ahead 30 years when Alex Penrose, 12, is summering with his grandma in Sheridan, Wyoming. He meets a colorful old geezer who lives in an empty cage in Sheridan's ex-zoo. This guy tells Alex that HE is Kid Currythe man killed in Parachute was someone else. Well, Alex and the Kid become pals, and Kid proposes that they rob the Sheridan bankButch Cassidy style. Dubious, Alex goes along with borrowing horses for the getaway and gathering supplies for a hideout stay in the Big Horn Mountain. They pull off the heist, and then. . . ? Even without knowing, or bothering to find out, that there historically was a Kid Curry, readers will find that this yarn is a fun read, but not a deep one, right up to the surprising twist at the end. George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This crisp, original story, set in Wyoming in the 1930s, begins with the familiar premise of a boy or girl spending the summer in a small town with nothing to do. Alex, 12, finds life at his grandmother's house quiet until an idea strikes him: "It sure would be different to rob a bank." Kid Curry, a mysterious old man who claims he used to be an outlaw, half-convinces Alex they can do it. The characters are marvelous: Alex, feeling neglected by his formidable father, tries not to show it; Kid Curry, with his weakness for digressions, seems more vulnerable than cruel. A third engaging character, Miss Landusky, discreetly understands much more than she tells. The book, in fact, has such an amiable tone that readers will wonder if the crime can be brought offand Downing leaves them wondering to the end. With a poignancy that runs just beneath the surface, his novel gives a fresh interpretation of the disappearing Wild West, the modern West, and those stranded between the two worlds. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 10-12.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.