Vicki Hessel Werkley
Description
From School Library Journal YA-Red-haired Carrie McEdan, 17, is smitten with Danny, a wealthy rancher's son. At a church picnic, the two make plans fo
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r Carrie to remain behind when the rest of the family goes to town so that they can discuss their future. However, it isn't Danny who comes to the "soddy," but four Comanche warriors. They abduct Carrie, along with her father's prized horse herd, and embark on a grueling five-day trek across the Texas prairie. Determined to survive, the teen spends the next two months with the tribe. Just as Carrie (whose hair color has earned her the name Girl-on-Fire) grows more accepting of her captors, a startling turn of events reconciles her previous life with her more recent one. The strength of this book is in the rich details of Native American culture in the 1870s. The smell of wood smoke and simmering stews; the "tidy efficiency" of a tepee with its inner drape, rawhide trunks, and willow-slat beds; and the sounds of the language and songs all encourage readers to experience the human complexities of tribal life. Even teens reluctantly fulfilling a dreaded historical fiction assignment should become caught up in the protagonist's bittersweet adventure with a people who will soon face many tragic losses of their own.Dori DeSpain, Herndon Fortnightly Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description Winner - Evvy Award - Legacy. Finalist - IPPY Award - Multi-cultural Fiction. Based upon exhaustive research and collaboration with the Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee, author Vicki Hessel Werkley's debut novel thunders across the 1874 plains of Texas and Oklahoma. While the Red River War rages, the personal drama of Carrie McEdan unfolds as she's abducted from the harsh wind-torn life she's known in a soddy, and is swept into Comanche tribal life. Review The strength of this book is in the rich details of Native American culture in the 1870s. The smell of wood smoke and simmering stews; the tidy effi-cieny of a tepee with its inner drape, rawhide trunks, and willow-slat beds; and the sounds of the language and songs all encourage readers to experience the human complexities of tribal life. --School Library JournalGirl-On-Fire is a superbly written book . . . extraordinarily accurate about the daily life and responsibilities of Comanche women and with the Comanche language appropriately used. Vicki Werkley has done an outstanding job in her research of the Comanche People. I give this book two thumbs up! --Thekwane (Jolene Jimenez), Comanche Tribal Princess, 1988Girl-On-Fire was a pleasure! The closest book I have read to capturing the true essence of Comanche Women! --Diana G. Sovo, Personnel Director, Comanche Nation; Comanche Tribal Princess, 1983 About the Author Vicki Hessel Werkleys articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines throughout the country. Favorite topics include the history of the American West, animals especially horses and science fiction. Psychology, dreams and the world of the spirit figure prominently in all her work. This is her first published novel. Born into an Air Force family stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, Vicki later lived in Texas, Arizona and very briefly in Japan, but has been a Californian since 1957, and has been a writer since second grade. Throughout her school years, Vicki won numerous awards for her poetry and short fiction, including a National Scholastic Writing Award. For fourteen years, Vicki was an educator in Mendocino County schools, and she has worked extensively as a peer counselor and mediator. For many years she has been a professional editor, editing other people's writings even during a time she was legally blind. Now enjoying better eyesight, Vicki lives in Lake County, California with Tom, her husband of thirty years, and Lani (short for Hokulani, which is Hawaiian for "Star in the Sky"), a parakeet who thinks she runs
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