STIRRUP HIGH

At an ambling pace, the author gives an autobiographical account of his fourteenth summer, spent at his father's Circle C ranch in Montana. Though he was just ""stirrup high,"" Walt the tenderfoot kept his wits when desperado Kid Curry and three other outlaws stole four of the Circle C's horses. And Walt survived other trying, and sometimes embarrassing, experiences. When he mistook the Governor of Montana for a city dude, Walt wished he hadn't been so quick to speak up. Although the tempo never exceeds a trotting gait, this narrative is clear and easy to follow, with appropriately spare and simple language. Slightly retarded readers in sixth and seventh grade should enjoy and comprehend this, as well as their faster classmates.