From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Set about 150 years ago, Paulsen's latest offering is a ripsnorting adventure, and nothing more, most similar to a Saturday-matinee cliff-hanger of several decades back. In this fourth volume about Francis, 15, and the children he "adopted," Lottie and Billy, the trio struggles to stay out of the clutches of the evil Comancheros (men who trade with the nomadic Comanches) from whom the youngsters escaped in the previous book. Paulsen's trademark emphasis on survival, "man versus nature," is here in fine measure, but so, too, is a melodramatic plot. First, the three young people are saved from their pursuers by a summer thunderstorm; then they find an escaped group of Indian ponies; then they discover a cache of Spanish gold. Next, Francis is bitten by a rattlesnake and nursed back to health by Pueblo Indians while Lottie and Billy learn to live with the tribe. Finally, after the threesome leaves the Pueblos to resume their search for Francis's real family, the Comancheros catch them. In a conclusion that's shockingly violent for the intended audience, the young people kill their captors. Their journey, in conjunction with any one or two of the above episodes, might have been the heart of a first-rate novel, but combined, it's all just too unbelievable. No doubt Tucket's fans will clamor for the book, but it's mostly a nonnutritive meal.
Coop Renner, Moreno Elementary School, El Paso, TX Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The fourth installment of Paulsen's Tucket Adventures (Tucket's Ride, 1997, etc.) is instantly involving, with plotting that rockets along. Francis Tucket, 15, and his two young charges, the talkative Lottie and her little brother, Billy, are on the run, one step ahead of the ruthless Comancheros, ``the dirt-meanest men Francis had ever seen in a world full of mean men.'' The children are valuable commodities on the frontier, easily ``sold or traded into slavery.'' As the youngsters flee, they battle the elements, find a treasure, meet up with a tribe of friendly Pueblo Indians, and are captured by a pair of pitiless thieves. The book is bursting with clearly limned, colorful characters and despite his lightning pace, Paulsen finds time for softer moments as well. Francis, for example, who hasn't seen his kin since he was stolen by the Pawnee, realizes that he loves Lottie and Billy, and that they ``were more of a family to him than the one he'd lost.'' This invigorating story is just right for readers who like their action at a gallop. (Fiction. 9-12) --
Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
