Crazy Horse: Brave Warrior

The Treasure Chest #5

by Ann Hood, Scott Altmann (Illustrations)

The New York Times calls Ann Hood's thrilling The Treasure Chest series "delightful!" In book five, Felix and Maisie re-enter The Treasure Chest and suddenly find themselves in the midst of a Lakota village. While exploring they meet a young man, soon to be known as Crazy Horse--and embark on an adventure that includes fascinating vision quests and exciting battles.

Genres: Historical Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2013

About the author

Ann Hood is the editor of Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting and the bestselling author of The Book That Matters Most, The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, Comfort, and An Italian Wife, among other works. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, a Best American Spiritual Writing Award, a Best American Food Writing Award, a Best American Travel Writing Award, and the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felix and Maisie Robbins were twins. When their parents divorced they left with their mother to live with their Great-uncle Thorne and Great-Aunt Maisie. As they got settled in at Elm Medona, a seventy-room mansion in Rhode Island, they discovered a secret room called The Treasure Chest. The very interesting thing about this room is that there are objects that allow time travel back into history. So far, Felix and Maisie have traveled back and met Clara Barton, Alexander Hamilton and Pearl Buck. Now, they are ready for another great escapade. In this latest adventure the twins are finding that their new lives are proving to be somewhat of an adventure with their mother and her new boyfriend, their Great-aunt Maisie's supposed death, and their Great-Uncle who is grumpy but has a few surprises of his own. Distraught by all of the sudden changes with her parents love interests, her brother's new love interests, Maisie felt alone. While hiding out in the Treasure Chest room she was soon discovered by Felix. She held a red-tailed hawk feather in her hand, and longed for an escape to another time. Whispering the word “buffalo” Felix and Maisie were lifted and whisked away back into history. Upon their clumsy arrival they found themselves surrounded by buffalo. Across the prairie they saw dozens of Native Americans on horses. They all wore feathers and Felix knew that the feather he and Maisie carried belonged to one of them, it would be up to them to find out who and return it. Landing in the American West where white settlers were the enemy would make for a very interesting challenge. Hood has created another wonderful adventure for middle grade readers. The history and lifestyle of the American West during the time of the buffalo and Native Americans is brought to life with vivid details and imagery. Hood uses all five senses that put the reader right beside the characters. This latest edition is a quick and easy read any young adventurer would love.

[Corinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book number five in this installment didn't bring me any new insights on the series. I still think it's a clever way to teach kids history and I still think the characters are a bit annoying, but probably wouldn't be annoying if I was 12 or so. I'm giving these books to my favorite little man to save for when he gets to be old enough to enjoy them, so I'll see the series through. Plus, I'm loyal to Ann Hood, whose adult literature is outstanding.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid edition to this series. I was a bit concerned because Maisie and Felix didn't use The Treasure Chest until more than halfway through the book and I wasn't sure how much story could be fit in, but the author did a great job. There's some great lessons to be learned from this book, the historical part is pretty good, and the characters development was well written. I would recommend this book. 4 out of 5 stars.