Growing up on a small ranch without a mother hasn't been all that easy for only-child Maddie O'Brien. Her father, scarred by war emotionally and physically is kind, but very withdrawn. Her grandfather, Otis, is funny and wise but a confirmed bachelor who is completely content to tend to their livestock and endlessly re-tell old stories. As another difficult Christmas season approaches, Maddie O'Brien is hoping for something special to bring joy into their lives. And then one snowy winter night a small band of abandoned and hungry donkeys appears at their barn door braying for food and...

On the vast and indescribably beautiful South Rim of the Grand Canyon a young Hualapai boy faces a bleak future in 1902. River Thunder's mother has just passed into the Spirit World and his father has nothing left to give the boy except his hand carved flute and his magical gift for music. It is a time in America's history when Native American children were separated from their loving families, tribes and even their ancient and traditional cultures and sent to distant "Indian Schools" for re-education and vocational training. River Thunder will carry his flute, courage and trusting innocence...

"Joaquin Murieta Was My Friend" is the story of an unlikely friendship forged in the days of the historic 1849 gold rush when California's population exploded with dreamers and rogues. Among the former is Michael Callahan who has survived a perilous ocean voyage around Cape Horn with equally ambitious Paddy Ryan. Both Irishmen are determined to strike it rich in the swift, cold rivers that flow down the western slopes of the High Sierras. During a dramatic chance encounter, Michael Callahan will meet the legendary outlaw Joaquin Murieta who vows vengeance against those who had raped and...

"Our American West, Volume 2" begins with America's first colonizers, the 'prairie dogs', and how out on the ranges they were so hated by ranchers that they were almost made extinct. 'Conestoga Wagons' were once called "prairie schooners" crossing America long before the famed 'Pony Express'. The indomitable courage of 'Sarah Winnemucca', the "Paiute Princess" rivals that of a tall Swede named 'Snowshoe Thompson' who skied the snowy winter passes of the Sierra Nevadas for over twenty years packing the mail and saving lives. Almost no one knows of Esther Hobart Morris, but Wyoming proudly...

Our American West, Volume 3 is filled with western frontier stories you are sure to find entertaining. "The Roadrunner - Our Sagebrush Clowns" reflects on the speedy and often comical bird of our southwestern deserts. Wild and wicked "Calamity Jane" lived up to her reputation as the West's most infamous outlaw woman. If she'd have gone before "'Hanging' Judge Parker," Calamity would almost assuredly have been the sixty-first person to meet "The Prince of the Hangmen" a gentle fellow who never understood why people would not smile when they met his gaze. This volume describes one of the most...

In Our American West, Volume I you are sure to discover humor, tragedy and courage in every one of these delightful stories. Gary McCarthy has been writing about the American West for thirty years and these are some of his favorite topics written-not for the expert or scholar-but for all the armchair admirers of things historically western. Some of these exciting subjects are fairly well known such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but even here you will discover things about these daring outlaws that you probably didn't know. And in this first volume, you'll be delighted and amused at...

"Our American West, Volume 4" completes this collection of stories written by master storyteller and national award-winning author Gary McCarthy, and after reading it you might well decide that he has saved his best and favorites for last. "The Lewis and Clark Expedition" proved once and for all that the storied and hoped for "River across America" didn't exist. And did you know that, if the Russians had held on a little longer at Fort Ross, California might have been their greatest prize? Long before the Forty-Niner Gold Rush a diminutive but courageous priest named "Fr. Junipero Serra"...

After days of rain and storms, Maddie O'Brien is restless to venture out into the forest. Little could she know that while walking with her beloved grandfather, they will come upon a nest of eleven turkey eggs protected by their dying mother. Maddie and Otis can't save the brave wild turkey hen, yet they are determined to hatch out and raise her feisty poults. But times are hard for the O'Brien family and as Thanksgiving looms ever nearer, it seems certain that Maddie's beloved turkeys are destined for the roaster and the holiday dinner table. How can Maddie O'Brien save her turkeys and still...

based on a true story about a modern day pirates adventures around the worlds oceans funny sad honset takes you the reader on a journey not for the feaint hearted enter if you dare