In this coming-of-age story, thirteen-year-old Will Crete vows
revenge for the senseless killing of his teacher. The setting is
San Augustine, Texas; the time, the lawless 1930s, the
Depression. Will finds an old gun and painstakingly restores it,
so he'll be ready when he learns who the murderer is. But before
that can happen, Will, an orphan, finds himself with a host of
new friends—Indian Joe, the medicinal herb doctor whose
shop he cleans; Cooter Brown, the bootlegger who drives him
into San Augustine once a week and shares his views on the
way of the world; Minnie Lee Spivey, the young girl, crippled
by polio, whose attention first embarrasses and then pleases
Will; and Miss Allie, the widowed woman who raises him and
whose crusty temper, he learns, hides a real affection for him.
When Will witnesses a shooting, he learns something about
violence, and when bullies threaten his dog, Jigger, he learns
more about himself. From the Texas Rangers he so admires
and a judge whose vision of right and wrong is crystal clear,
Will learns about justice and moral responsibility.

Will Crete tells his story in his own voice and takes the reader
into his confidential thoughts as he puzzles over the nature of
the world and his part in it. An absorbing tale for readers, both
boys and girls, age ten and over.

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RUBY C. TOLLIVER's novel, Muddy Banks, was names Best
Juvenile of the Year by the Texas Institute of Letters in 1987
and was on the 1990 Bluebonnet Master List in Texas. Other
novels by Tolliver include Sarita, Be Brave, Boomer's Kids,
and I Love You, Daisy Phew. Tolliver and her husband, a retired
construction engineer, make their home in Conroe, Texas.


A Chaparral Book for Young Readers