ABOUT THIS BOOK

Raised to take the place of her dead brother,  Carlota de Zubaran can do anything that Carlos could  have done. She races her stallion through the  California lowlands, dives into shark-infested waters  searching for gold, and fights in the battles that  rage between the Mexicans and the Americans. At  sixteen, she is fearless--and that pleases her  father very much.



Yet while Carlota  throughly enjoys her freedom, she wants to be more  than her father's "son." She wants to be  herself, brave and courageous but free to show  feelings of tenderness and compassion as well. Her  father thinks such feelings are shameful, so Carlota  must defy him. That will be the most difficult  battle of all.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott O'Dell was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 23, 1898. He attended Occidental College, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stanford University, and University of Rome. He worked as a technical director for Paramount, a cameraman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and a book editor of a Los Angeles newspaper before serving in the United States Air Force during World War II. The recipient of numerous book awards, he established the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction in 1981. He died on October 15, 1989.