It's a familiar theme, the unlikely pairing of a gruff old guy and a poor little orphan girl- think 'True Grit,' or better yet, 'Heidi.' Now, take Heidi out of the Alps and set her down in Indian Territory, where she's just been freed after four years as a captive of the murderous Kiowas. She needs to make the perilous, 400-mile journey across Texas back to her family, and 70-year-old Capt. Jefferson Kidd is the (unlikely) man for the job. It's an unpromising start- fully indoctrinated into the ways of her captors, 10-year-old Johanna speaks only Kiowa and her Indian ways are as inexplicable to Capt. Kidd as his old-man manners are to her- but he is patient and courageous and she is plucky and resourceful. In the face of adversity, they learn to trust and value each other. Jiles is a gifted storyteller, and in her capable hands the familiar becomes fresh- she never sounds a false note in her delivery of this truly captivating narrative.
- Helene Woodhams Also selected by Christine Wald Hopkins
