Gr 3-6 When timid, eight-year-old Emily Wiggins is suddenly orphaned, her neighborsMrs. Ready, Mrs. Aim, and Mrs. Fireare about to put her on the next train to live with kindly Aunt Hilda, her father's sister-in-law. Then Miss Catchum of the Catchum Child-Catching Services shows up, intent on collecting a "super-duper-dinger-zinger" bonus for depositing Emily with her closest next of kin, reprehensible Uncle Victor, who is fixated on finding Emily. With just her pet turtle for company, Emily embarks on an adventure through the Wild West, complete with dastardly villains and gold-digging distant relatives. She soon meets fellow orphan Jackson, and she has to decide whether or not to trust him to help her escape from (hot on the trail) Miss Catchum and Uncle Victor. The story is a real humdinger of a page-turner and will keep reluctant readers engrossed, eager to see if Emily arrives at Aunt Hilda's safely. And what will become of poor Jackson, who has yet to find a loving home? The local vernacular is lively and fun and the characters are well developed. Cliff-hangers between chapters are written in large boldface to keep readers hooked. "But how in the ding-dong dickens could she really trust him?" Simple, black-and-white illustrations complement the unfolding story. A rip-roaring good time that will be devoured by both boys and girls. Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA

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.

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)