Booklist Online Exclusive: September 29, 2016

The Lost Ones.

Casita and her family thought their village of Lipan Apache, in Mexico, would be safe from U.S. Cavalry raids. But one fateful day in 1877 proves how wrong they are. Casita witnesses the brutal murder of her mother and the destruction of their village before she is forcibly relocated to Fort Clark in Texas with her younger brother and other survivors. While most survivors are exiled to reservations, Casita and her brother, Jack, are looked after by a kindhearted military family until they are wrenched away again, this time to the Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Pennsylvania. Haunted by the past yet still looking for a future, spirited, sensitive Casita navigates the confusing white world while still holding to her Apache identity. Readers will cheer her determined spirit in the face of shattering loss. Highly engaging historical fiction and based on actual people, MacColl’s Hidden Histories series tale is powerful storytelling and an excellent prompt for classroom discussion of Indian policy.

— Anne O’Malley