MY LIFE WITH APACHE

Author: Linda L. Lattimer ISBN: 9781593748265 9/2007 HISTORICAL/YOUNG ADULT Publisher: WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
Time Period: Old Frontier

He is Brave Coyote, but she knows him as Apache. On the way to pursue her father’s dreams of a new life, the wagon train she and her family are a part of is brutally attacked by Indians. The lone survivor, Elizabeth is surprised when other Indians arrive to offer assistance. With one bullet left in the gun, she recalls her father’s words to save it if necessary. Her father never wanted his daughters to suffer such a fate at anyone’s hands. Apache takes her to his home to be his wife but Elizabeth plans to flee. On the way to finding an escape Elizabeth learns much about the Indian people. And when she sees a side to her own people that wish to bring deliberate harm to the Indians, Elizabeth realizes the color of one’s skin makes no difference in a world seeking freedom. But is it too late for her and her Apache?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Linda Lattimer does a commendable job showcasing the tribal ways of the 19th century Apache in MY LIFE WITH APACHE. Told through the eyes of a a young fourteen year-old girl who is taken into their tribe after the brutal slaughter of her family by the Comanche, it is a story about racial bigotry, intolerance, and social and cultural stereotyping. It is also a love story of sorts, and that's the part that leaves me on the fence writing this review. I love the "acceptance of all people" message that this story sends, but am put off by the romantic aspects of this book.

Having Elizabeth be fourteen instead of say, at least sixteen or seventeen, ended up being one major drawback to her character that this reviewer couldn't overcome. It made me very uncomfortable as far as the wife and baby aspects of her life, and I'm not so sure that if I had an early teenage daughter I'd allow her to read this book. It also caused havoc with getting my feel for Elizabeth's character—one minute she's talking and acting like the child she really is and the next, I'd swear she was twenty! It was very confusing to me and left the portrayal of Elizabeth as pretty much emotionless and flat.

MY LIFE WITH APACHE is a well flowing, midsize read written in first person by a promising author, but one that I would only recommend for young adult readers sixteen years or older, and even at sixteen, not without some reservation.

Nancy Davis