Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)
This post Civil War story by Patricia McKissack was inspired by queries about her ancestry. McKissack writes about eleven-year-old Sarah Crossman who rescues Sky, an ailing Apache boy who fled from a train headed for the reservation. This leads to a more difficult life in 1888 Alabama where Sarah's black parents already fear white supremacists, boll weevils, and losing their land. However, Sky opens hearts and minds, bringing the joy of independence to the troubled family and, later, to the entire African-American community. 1997, Scholastic, $14.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Jan Lieberman (Children's Literature)
In a remarkable story set in 1886, Sarah Crossman, 11, an African American and her family nurse an escaped Apache boy named Sky back to health. During this time, Sarah tries to win Sky's approval, but he is sullen and fearful of the strangers. Slowly, through the family's kindness and Sarah's undaunted efforts to get responses from him, he begins to feel at ease. Patricia McKissack has written an absorbing novel that is based on historic incidents. The courage of Sarah's father when he faces the Knights of the Southern Order is inspiring. When Sky helps them fight off this white supremacist group, he truly becomes part of the Crossman family. An excellent read-aloud. 1997, Scholastic, $14.95. Ages 9 to 12.

Mary Sue Preissner (Children's Literature)
In rural Alabama, in 1888, Sarah finds a young Apache boy hiding in her barn and dying from swamp fever. Skye escaped from a train en route to a Florida reservation. Sarah and her mother nurse him to health. Skye becomes a member of their family and unites both the Native Americans and blacks of the nearby communities to stand against the white supremacists of that time. Using both historical documents from that time, and the oral history of her own family, McKissack has spun a compelling tale of this time period and these remarkable people. 1997, Scholastic Press, $14.95. Ages 10 to 14.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1997)
In 1888, Apache Indians who had been held as prisoners of war in Florida were transported to Alabama. Patricia McKissack's own great-great-great grandfather was a Native American whose tribal ancestry remains undetermined, and in Run Away Home she has written a story based on "what might have been" as she imagines the meeting between a fictional Apache boy and a rural African-American family in Alabama at that time. The novel is told from the point of view of 11-year-old Sarah Crossman, an African-American child who lives with her mother and father on a small farm. When an Apache boy escapes from the train transport and hides in the Crossman family barn, Sarah discovers him and he is sheltered and cared for by her parents. At first Sarah is jealous of Sky and the attention he receives from both her parents, but he soon becomes like an older brother to her. Sky's values and way of life blend with those of Sarah's family, and he stands with them when white supremacists who are angered and threatened by the very idea of a Black man voting or Black families who are economically independent present a danger. A strong African-American family and community whose understanding of freedom embraces the desire for self-determination of an American Indian child and his people form the strong foundation of this novel. CCBC categories: Fiction for Children; Historical People, Places and Events. 1997, Scholastic, 160 pages, $14.95. Ages 10-12.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 1998 (Vol. 51, No. 6))
In this fictionalized account of a McKissack family story, eleven-year-old Sarah Crossman sees a young Apache escape from a train carrying him and others of his tribe to confinement on a reservation. She discovers he is hiding in their barn but does not tell her parents. It is not until the Apache, fifteen-year-old Sky, becomes ill that Sarah's parents are admitted to the secret. The remainder of the story is a disjointed account of Sky's adjustment to and acceptance by the Crossman family and their community, of the local African-American families' standing up to the Ku Klux Klan, and of Sarah's father's saving his farm by building desks for Tuskegee Institute. There is a lot going on here, but it is unfortunately not connected by any strong, emotionally engaging plot thread, and plot contrivances strain credulity. Sky escapes from a train headed for a reservation, he travels in the company of Geronimo, and he is recognized as a dangerous warrior and leader of his people. It is highly unlikely that federal agents would have allowed Sky to remain with the Crossmans, and it's even more unlikely he would have been allowed to remain in the community, as torn by racial division as it is depicted. Characterization is flat and somewhat stereotypical, with people being either saints or demons. Still, Sarah has a strong voice, even when relating a questionable plot, and young historical-fiction fans may find her point of view involving. Ad--Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 1998, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1997, Scholastic, 160p, $14.95. Grades 6-9.

Heather L. Walker (The Five Owls, November/December 1997 (Vol. 12, No. 2))
I looked back...[and] that's when, over the shoulders of the soldiers, I saw the boy who had been sitting next to Geronimo leap through an open window and roll into the darkness. He never made a sound." It is 1880 in rural Alabama and Sarah Crossman, an eleven year old African-American girl, has just witnessed an Apache boy escape from the train that the government is using to ship the Apaches to another part of the county. Does she cry out and alert the soldiers? Does she keep his secret and allow him to escape? Sarah struggles with the decision and it is her choice to remain silent and her vow to not betray the boy that begins this tale. But when Sarah's mother discovers her daughter in their barn with a dying Sky, the secret is revealed. Together, Sarah, her Mama, Georgianne and her Papa, Lee Andrew, nurse Sky back to health and provide for him a family and community to replace the one he lost. He, in turn, brings a part of the Apache culture to theirs. Inspired by family history and legend, Patricia McKissack creates a compelling and realistic novel that weaves the stories of two cultures that are fighting to survive. In the Author's Note at the beginning of the novel, McKissack speaks of the impetus to write this tale. "My great-great-great-grandfather, Abraham Crossley, was a Native American. In the summer of 1977, when we visited southeast Alabama for a family reunion, my great-uncle told us the family legend of how the Crossley family had found a young Indian child in the woods." This brief story sparked McKissack's desire to know her family's history, to answer the questions that the scant legends had left her with. She spent the next twenty years copiously researching the history of the Apache and African-American people in the South, and piecing together what she could of the possibilities of Abraham's life. Evident in both the introductions to the book and in the novel itself, McKissack has clearly and carefully researched the time period as well as her own family history. The author's notes and the acknowledgments not only invite the reader to share in her personal journey to write this story, but also lay a solid historical foundation for the novel. Run Away Home is the result of these two decades of research and passionate interest. It beautifully blends historical fact with fictional characters and the result is compelling. It is a gentle and powerful fictional tribute to Abraham and the Crossley family. The novel itself is a clear, proud, affirming work. The language of the novel is simple without ever being simplistic or patronizing. Indeed, its stark, honest simplicity often makes the hatred, brutality and terror of the racist South more powerful and painful. Along with depicting the painful struggle and loss that the blacks and Native Americans endured, this novel is replete with images and examples of survival, strength and pride. Sarah's father was born and grew to manhood as a slave and it is this legacy that Sarah often draws upon in her own life. She remembers stories of Harriet Tubman, of the Underground Railroad, and of the many who bravely worked to hide slaves during their escape to freedom. These stories offer her guidance to know that she cannot turn her back on Sky. It is this history of strength that allows both the Crossman's and their neighbors to continue to fight for the rights that they are entitled even in the face of often overwhelming odds. Although occasionally the history lessons in the novel can become a bit heavy handed, the lessons of compassion, commonality, and respect of difference never feel didactic. McKissack's celebration of differences is evident in almost every aspect of the novel and it is clearly and powerfully felt. Run Away Home does not offer an ending of unrealistic reversal of feeling and beliefs. Racial prejudice is not eradicated in the small town of Quincy, nor do the soldiers suddenly see the error of their ways and allow the Apache people to return home. McKissack is also careful not to integrate Sky into the Crossman family in a way that dismisses his own culture. Likewise, the Crossmans learn and are changed by Sky while continuing to reaffirm their own history and legacy. This novel offers the hopefulness of people who refuse to allow their lives to be destroyed by hatred and fear, the strength of community, and the power of celebration. 1997, Scholastic Press, 5 x 7, 176 pages, $14.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1997)
A young African-American girl befriends an Apache boy who has escaped from the train transporting Geronimo and his companions-in-exile from Florida to Alabama. Sarah comes to appreciate Sky's strength of character, the pivotal role he plays in the family's economic survival, and the emotional support he offers to all. McKissack knows how to pace a story, create suspense, and interweave period details into a coherent narrative. Category: Fiction. 1997, Scholastic, 160pp.. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.