Crows and Cards
Description
Three warnings for readers who hate surprises: 1. Beware of slivers, 2. and gamblers, 3. and aces.
Zebulon Crabtree found all that out the hard way back in 1849 when his mother and father shipped him off to St. Louis to apprentice with a tanner. Too bad he had serious allergies to fur and advice from his parents. Hearing the beat of a different drummer, Zeb takes up with a riverboat gambler who has some special plans for him, crosses paths with a slave who turns out to be a better friend than cook, and learns that some Indian medicine men can see even though blind. And then there’s the Brotherhood—the one that Zeb can’t seem to get out of . . . Lucky for us, the price of living in turbulent times is often a good story, and Zeb spins an unforgettable one.
One runaway apprentice. A dozen swindlers on the Mississippi riverboat trail.
- Boys Adventure Book: Zebulon Crabtree was supposed to be a tanner’s apprentice, but a fast-talking cardsharp has other, more dangerous, plans for him.
- Riverboat Gambler: Meet Chilly Larpenteur, a charismatic con man who promises Zeb a life of riches but delivers lessons in cheating, cardsharps, and running for your life.
- Unlikely Friendship: From a runaway slave to a blind Native American medicine man, Zeb learns that the best allies aren’t always the ones you expect.
- 1849 St. Louis: Step onto the bustling, muddy levee of a frontier boomtown, where every steamboat brings new marks and new dangers.
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Joseph Helgerson lives next door to Theodore Wirth Park, where he often hikes. His book The Lost Galumpus is the first time he’s written about that park’s remarkable residents. He’s previously written about river trolls (Horns & Wrinkles) and talking crows (Crows & Cards).