Trouble Creek was the site of a massacre ten years before. Now, 11-year-old Daniel and his younger brother Will are left there all alone to finish a cabin while their father returns to Pennsylvania for the rest of the family. Ohio in 1803 was one big forest, and Van Leeuwen effectively captures its various moods—claustrophobic, lonely, scary, and exciting. When Pa doesn’t return and the boys spend the whole winter there, the story becomes a tale of survival, the boys relying on their own instincts and the help of Solomon, an Indian passing through. He teaches them about snares and traps, poisonous and healing plants, and especially how to really see—how to stay alert to the dangers and the promise of the forest. Based on a true incident, this is a fine story of wilderness, family, absence, and new strengths found. It works as both a solid historical novel and as an exciting survival tale. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)
