School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's latest story (Delacorte, 2010) is set during the time of westward expansion, gold rushes, and stagecoaches. Emily Higgins is orphaned and without a friend in the world except for her pet turtle, Rufus. She's been sheltered most of her life and must rely on the help of three neighborly women to help her figure out what to do next. They help her get started on her way to her kind Aunt Hilda's, but her shifty Uncle Victor and the Catchum Child-Catching Services are hot on her heels. Soon Emily meets Jackson, another young orphan traveling by stagecoach, and she learns about friendship and how to fend for herself. Twists and turns, literally and figuratively, keep this story bouncing along with suspense and humor. Narrator Lee Adams enhances Naylor's brilliant use of vernacular, giving many characters weathered voices that speak of the past. An entertaining tale.-April Mazza, Wayland Public Library, Wayland MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
After her mother's death, Emily musters up the courage to make the stagecoach trip to her Aunt Hilda's, dodging an evil uncle and the Catchum Child Catching Services along the way. Written in a comically overblown style, this tale will keep readers turning pages to find out, "How in flippin' flapjacks will Emily outsmart Uncle Victor? (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Naylor takes readers on a rollicking ride to the Wild West in this comedy-adventure starring a tiny, extremely shy eight-year-old orphan, Emily, her pet turtle, Rufus, and a wild boy named Jackson who comes to her rescue. When Emily's mother and her wealthy lady employer are killed in a carriage accident, Emily chooses to go to her sweet Aunt Hilda in the West instead of her awful Uncle Victor. On her stagecoach ride west, Jackson, another orphan, helps Emily keep steps ahead of the terrible Child Catchers, but worse danger looms when Emily learns she's inherited a fortune, and greedy Uncle Victor shows up on the stagecoach looking for her. Collins provides lively line drawings that capture the action, while the author provides real suspense and comedy with her population of verging-on-caricature characters. Can Emily escape her Uncle? Can she stay with Rufus? At the end of each chapter, direct-address questions in huge type and alliterative archaic phrases launch readers into the next chapter. Emily comes across as a fully developed and appealing character. Great fun. (Historical fiction. 7-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Newbery Award winner Naylor claims that she tries to never write the same kind of book twice, and although she has written westerns before, including Walker's Crossing (1999), this could be seen as her first of the rootin'-tootin' variety. When her mother and the wealthy woman she works for are killed in a carriage accident, meek Emily sets out to find her loving aunt. Trouble is, the wealthy woman left a considerable fortune to Emily, and her villainous uncle Victor would sure like to get his hands on all that cash. Most of the story takes place on a stagecoach out west as Emily and fellow orphan Jackson muster all their cunning and pluck to outwit Victor, and a good deal of the appeal comes from Naylor's feisty chapter cliff-hangers: What in shootin' shivers would Emily do now? It all makes for a fun, bouncy ride, though one might wish for a few more of Collins' scene-stealing pencil sketches. As there simply aren't many westerns for young girls, this happily plugs a hole in the genre.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2010 Booklist
