Summer of the Painted Horse
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The sunbright silver Amtrack, Empire Builder, coasted into the Montana train station, and a sixteen-year-old girl got the surprise of her life. A crowd of some thirty or forty people was lined up along the platform, anxiously watching the train exits. Two teenage boys, dressed in fringed and beaded buckskins, held a huge banner decorated with feathers and arrows. The sign read, "Welcome Home, Amy!"
"Are those real Red Indians, Mummy?" said a small boy with an English accent. He wiggled around the girl, who was standing in the exit, waiting for the train to come to a complete stop.
"Native Americans, Reggie," his mother corrected. "The book says they're Blackfeet. We're on their reservation, you know."
Reggie said, "Wow!" and Amy thought, You can say that again.
"East Glacier Park!" called the conductor, making his way down the train aisle. Amy pushed up the strap on her backpack and straightened her jacket. Well, here goes. She stepped off the train with a smile that was a whole lot braver than she felt.
Years of piano recitals had turned her into a pro where crowds were concerned, but, well, this was different. The people on the platform were here to meet her personally, Amy Brooks from Redlands, California.
The really weird thing was that she thought she recognized a few of the greeters, but how could that be?
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
When 16-year-old Amy Brooks travels to Glacier Park, Montana, to learn about her Blackfeet heritage, she meets a grandmother who has been missing her for ten years and an uncle who wishes she'd never come back.
She has wonderful daytime adventures on a paint horse named Twinkle and terrifying nighttime dreams that leave her shaken and crying. She meets Native Americans who play golf and others who cling tenaciously to the old ways. Like Montana, a land of many contrasts, Amy's life becomes a mixture of great joy and deep sadness.
Join Amy and her cousins, Paul and Shirley, as they ride free in flower-decked meadows, and follow them to parades and powwows.
Find out if this Southern California teenager can adapt to her new life in the north. Will she unlock the mystery of her mother's tragic death? Discover the answers in Summer of the Painted Horse by award-winning author, Nancy Sanderson.
About the Author
As a professional journalist and photographer, Nancy Sanderson began writing for horse magazines in the 1970s. She published over 300 articles in such nationally known magazines as The Western Horseman and Appaloosa Journal.
After retiring from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Sanderson published her first book, Summer of the Spanish Horse. Her second book, Summer of the Spotted Horse, was a prize winner in the 2005 Arizona Author's Association Literary Contest.
She and her husband live in Yuma, Arizona with a pair of rescued poodles who run the household. She is working on book number four.