Shannon Costello

In spite of the bad language, which I felt was excessive and unnecessary, this book by Hal Borland is approved for seventh graders to read.

The book is about a Ute Indian boy who spends his life trying to “find himself.” I am not convinced that he ever does.

He had cause enough to be lost, I suppose. His parents were hiding in the wilderness from the law. Since he was raised in the old Indian ways, he had serious difficulties when the attempt was made to integrate him into modern American society.

The word that kept coming to mind as I read this book was “despair.” The main character, Thomas Black Bull, was inextricably entangled by the circumstances of his life and the people around him. I dislike reading about such problems in fiction books because they are too real and therefore too depressing. I also avoid these types of books because the problems in this world are so impossibly big and overwhelming that only God can solve them. A book such as this, where God is not dealt with, presents no solution.