Secret of Tabby Mountain
Jo Barkley discovers a dangerous secret on Tabby Mountain
Jo Barkley, and her friend, Bobby, are invited to Uncle Clint’s ranch near Tabby Mountain to help with the spring cattle drive. But Jo’s parents have invited Flora Mae, her city cousin, to spend the summer with her on the Barkley farm.
Jo decides to help her cousin get used to country life so Flora Mae can go to the ranch with her and Bobby. Laugh with Jo and weep with her as she teaches Flora Mae to take care of the chickens, milk a cow and ride a horse. The three children go to the ranch where they meet a Ute Indian and discover a secret on the mountain. Will the secret keep them from helping with the cattle drive? Find out in The Secret of Tabby Mountain.
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See The Secret of Tabby Mountain
at Barnes and Noble. Also available through Ingram Book Group and Baker and Taylor. Order direct from the publisher at IUniverse. Cover art by Kim Andrews. |
Read the first Chapter of The Secret of Tabby Mountain.
Review
The Secret of Tabby Mountain is an action packed story laden with moral truths and glimpses into the life of the Indians and ranchers of Utah. Andrews gives vivid detailed descriptions of the land and its inhabitants as she tells Jo's story. This story runs the gamut from comical scenes between Jo and her "city cousin" Flora Mae, to action sequences that leave the reader with baited breath. Jo is the tough necked cowgirl whose greatest wish this summer is to ride with Uncle Clint in the cattle drive. When Uncle Clint's letter arrives with the invitation to the cattle drive, Jo is exuberant until she remembers her summer visitor Flora Mae. Flora Mae is the beautiful city cousin that is recovering from her sickness by spending a summer on the farm with Jo and her family. From milking cows to swinging from a haystack, Flora Mae is frightened by everything on the farm, yet she tries her best to be useful. Jo and Flora Mae demonstrate two extremes of city and country life, and provide the conflict Andrews is able to twist into a life lesson of Christ like forgiveness. With Hardy Boy suspense and a biblical moral, the secret of Tabby Mountain is a great alternative for children looking for an action story without gore and violence. 5 lassos out of 5 Amy Renea Harrison GW Book Reviewers
What others have said
The Secret of Tabby Mountain by Neva Andrews is a delightfully detailed story reflecting on Western family life as it was in the early 1900s. Andrews writes with a warm understanding of horses and the people who loved and depended on them.
This book will be a walk down memory lane for many adults and an adventure in history for children. Delight was taken in simple things back then. Everyone was expected to be responsible and not doing so could be a matter of life or death. It will give children a detailed understanding of what it was like growing up in this era. It would be a wonderful book for teachers to use to show comparisons of family life in the early 1900s and now.
It is a good read. I would highly recommend The Secret of Tabby Mountain to both students and teachers. Marcie Weeks, Librarian, Hudson Branch, Weld County Library, former Northridge Elementary Librarian in Douglas County.