Book review: Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

The fifty-seventh book I read in 2016 was Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.  McGraw is best and justly known for her book, The Golden Goblet, and this is another historical children's story, this time set not in ancient Egypt but in the American West.

The main character is Jim Keath, a young man who ran away from his family's home in Missouri looking for adventure in the west and was taken in by Crow Indians.  Living in Oregon territory as a trapper, he receives a letter from his long-lost younger siblings, now orphaned and in need of their older brother who is old enough to claim a homestead for the family.

The story is wildly politically incorrect for the present day, contrasting the ways of the Native Americans with those of the white settlers and coming down in favor of the latter every time.  Jim has to reject his savage ways to become a responsible provider for his estranged family.  Given that, however, it's a powerful and exciting story of adventure in the American West.