The Ghosts of Luckless Gulch

Estrella Rivera was born on June 14, 1838 and right away she was running, running here and there so fast that people called her a shooting star that had come to earth and they nicknamed her, "The Running Star". As she grew older she developed a way with animals. She was a natural healer and ranchers from all over brought their sick animals to her. Then the word spread among the animals themselves and they came from all over, even some animals nobody had ever heard of before, like a kickle snifter, a sidehill wowser and a rubberado puppy. These new and strange animals stayed and became Estrella's pets. Then on August 5, 1848, when Estrella was ten years old she was getting ready to run to San Francisco, eighty-miles away, and back, when she found her pets had vanished. She took off on a run looking for them. She ran to San Francisco, she ran to Sacramento, then she crossed the American River and wound up in Gold County, because you see gold had been discovered in California and the land was full of people from all over the world. She asked miner after miner if they'd seen her pets and finally a minor told to try Luckless Gulch. But first she had to find out how to get there and once there, well to find out what Estrella finds there, you'll have to read the book, can't give everything away, except the fact that this is an excellent, well illustrated book for children, that I can give away. Okay, I'll tell you this, there are ghosts in Luckless Gulch, and what child doesn't want to snuggle up with mom, dad or a grandparent and hear a ghost story? Especially one as well told as this. Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

I won't go over the synopsis as this has already been done by other reviewers. I will say that this is an excellent children's books and I will happily read it to my kids. It will probably last us a week as we usually read for 15 minutes each night. It is well written and very entertaining. Each page is like a new chapter in the story. Very imaginative and fun! Deserves the great reviews it's getting!

What a delightful tale of a fearless, compassionate young lady who endures hardship and conquers discouragement to save her beloved ,"very different" friends. Both the writing style and the illustrations keep pace with Estrella's speedy adventures. Her quests take place against the background of the California gold rush. The author's treatment of the gold rush is colorful but not romanticized The spunky narrative melds smoothly into the art work making this a book that will appeal to the different learning styles of children. Estrella is a child whose light and warmth melts the icy cold of greed. This book is a real beauty. Read and enjoy.

This is an oversized book with pictorial boards and matching dust jacket and pictorial endpapers. The story is more lenghty than I thought it would be and you might have to read it to any child below 1st grade level reading. The illustrations are different than most though and they will enjoy those. When Estrella Rivera is born into the world there is nothing to suggest that she would soon become the blazing hero of the California Gold Rush at age 10. As soon as she was able to stand she began running. She ran faster and faster and soon was leaving a blaze of flame behind her. When she was 10, she also came up with another skill. The animals loved her and any animal that was hurt made it's way to Primo's Rancho. Even the most fearful beast could be tamed by Estrella. First to arrive was a baby Kicle Snifter with a sore throat. Kicle was small as a lamb but stronger than an elephant and could kick boulders into the air as easy as a ballon and make the earth shake. Estrella's mama said the critter had to go after it had kicked all her heavy iron cook pans onto the roof. But no one could get it to leave so the ranch hands finally built it a coral from Whitewood logs. Next came Sidehill Wowser with a broken leg. Wowsers can climb hills but can't seem to stand straight on solid ground. So Estrella built it a hill (after it also refused to go). Then in flew a rubberado (dog) who sounded like a dog but could bounce off roofs. She named it Comet because it was so fast. Mama allowed it to stay only because it's main food was rocks and the family needed rocks out of the wheat fields. Then one day her 3 pets came up missing and she ran all the way to San Francisco looking for them (80 miles). They aren't there so she keeps running north and comes upon the wagon trains heading for the gold mines in hopes of striking it rich. The wagons are being pulled by ants (yes, indeedy in this book 6 or 7 half grown California ants could pull a stagecoach). But the wagon line is stalled so she rushes ahead to find out the problem after she spots her pets footprints in the ground. Someone finally told her about a town called Luckless Gulch where there were a lot of earthquakes and snowstorms (and it's only August). Estrella thought this might be where her pets were taken so off she runs again. She gets to the town to find all the people frozen in position and there are lights in the windows like from a flame but no smoke from the chimneys. She finally finds one old man only partially frozen who tells her ghosts have taken over the town and every creature (human and animal) froze at the sight. Even the moon froze in fright which is why the town has been in darkness for 2 weeks. Estrella is a fearless child though and goes after the ghosts and takes them on in a most unusual way (I don't want to give away the ending.). Soon she has her pets free and rushes home in time for supper! The Gold Rush is back on and the Whitewoods have turned into the Redwoods that we now kno