As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
40 pp.
| Carolrhoda
| November, 2009
|
TradeISBN 978-0-8225-6764-6$17.95
(1)
4-6
Illustrated by
R. Gregory Christie.
Bass Reeves, born a slave, captured over three thousand outlaws as a deputy U.S. marshal. This captivating biography is told in language as colorful as Reeves's career. Accentuated with a palette knife, Christie's sharply textured paintings create an impressionist background of an unformed land as well as detailed portraits of Reeves, his bold black hat conveying unmistakable authority. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2009
(3)
YA
Paulsen constructs a coming-of-age narrative for Bass Reeves, an African American federal marshal who served in the Indian Territory in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The Hatchet-like survival story of the young runaway slave is exciting and always plausible; Paulsen also (although without sources) dispenses what is known about Reeves's own story throughout the novel.