Crossing Montana

Crossing Montana by Laura Torres Holiday House, 2002, 119 pp., $ 15.95 Family Issues ISBN: 0-8234-1643-7

Callie decides to take charge, and search for her grandfather who has disappeared. And why shouldn't she? After all, Callie has been in charge of her younger brother most of his life, and she has taken care of herself since her own father died. And now, to her dismay, all Callie's mother and grandmother seem to care about is auctioning off the family farm.

Young Callie thinks that she knows exactly where her missing grandfather has gone-fishing in the lakes of Montana. So, Callie takes the car, some easy-to-grab-cash, and her mom's handy credit card, and heads to the very state where her father died. What Callie doesn't count on, though, is an unexpected stowaway in her car's back seat; a credit card that simply won't work; and literally hundreds of great fishing spots to search all over Montana. If ever there was a time she needed a friend to help her with her travails, the time is now.

In the spirit of Sharon Creech's Newbery Medal winner, Walk Two Moons, author Laura Torres takes her readers on a journey towards self-understanding by underlining the importance of family history to uncovering who we really are.

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

Spanish Fork, Utah

Copyright Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English Fall 2002
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