The Indian's Ruby

Chronicles of Nathaniel Childe #2

by Timothy C. Davis

In this second adventure, Nat faces truly formidable forces as he tries to keep his word to the Tachahana Native Americans--or else Falmouth and the Tachahana will destroy each other. Ranging from the forests of Maine to the open sea, Nat and his friends Paulo and Ruth struggle against the rich slave-trader Murgler, who also wants to kidnap Paulo into slavery. Loaded with action and cliff-hanger chapter endings.

195 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 1986

About the author

Tim Davis got into trouble at age 12 for reading Treasure Island under his blankets by flashlight when he was supposed to be sleeping. When he grew up, he pursued his love of children’s literature by earning a PhD in English and teaching Children’s Literature at university. He left academia in order to move to the San Francisco Bay Area and teach elementary school under an emergency program that let college graduates teach if they worked in the inner city. Tim Davis still lives in the Bay Area with his family, and recently began writing a series of children’s books that he hopes will get some other kids in trouble for reading under the blankets with a flashlight.

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great adventure in which the main character ‘Nat’ finds himself. A great descriptive read that brings the reader into the adventure. The roller coaster suspense keeps you turning the pages. This book is full of funny happenings, thrilling suspense and kindness. Just like Sea Cutter this book leaves the young reader discovering certain truths about having a good moral compass. It describes some of America’s awful history with slavery and the conflicts within the human race. I liked that the author isn’t afraid to tell the real stories of the colonies but, writes it in a delicate way. Red Stone is must for young readers to have on their bookshelf.

[Elaine Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

High Adventure in the Maine Forest

Red Stone is Book II in the Chronicles of Nathaniel Childe, and will be followed by Book III, yet another adventure tale. Those that have read Book I: Sea Cutter will be caught off guard initially, expecting to return to the whaling port of New Bedford with life having gotten back to usual (with the exception of a new adopted family member, Paulo, a Brazilian orphan taken on ship as a crew member for the ship's return journey home), after a harrowing sea tale that left the reader on the edge of his seat.

However, that does not turn out to be the case, and we find the protagonist, Nathaniel, and his adopted brother, Paulo, operating a chandlery in Falmouth, Maine. In this Colonial setting begins chapter after chapter of suspenseful action involving the Tachahana Indian tribe, slave traders (with a shockingly explicit description of the sufferings of the kidnapped slaves), and villains galore. Just when you think it can't get any more exciting, the story jumps to yet another plateau of suspense.

This bildungsroman is revelatory of many of the moral dilemmas and inevitable choices that boys are confronted with in the between years of boyhood and manhood. The author captures this internal and external struggle with great verbal skill. His writing style is quite unique and completely apropos to the story he relates. Sparing in adjectives, due to condensed, compact descriptions, the high action moves along at rapid pace, such as this paragraph in Chapter Five, describing one of two enemies (resembling Don Quixote and Sancho Panza) the boys mistake for friends:

"One was tall and skinny, and so cheerful that you would have thought he had just eaten maple syrup. His hair was long and thin. His face and nose were long and thin. His knobby knees and elbows joined his long, thin limbs at such gawky angles that he looked like a type of grasshopper on a horse. Within a minute he was treating us as if we were the oldest of friends."

Now that's solid writing. It has weight.

Many lives are at stake, both of the Tachahana tribe and the citizens of Falmouth; all is dependent on Nathaniel's care of and returning to the tribe a beautiful red ruby in four days' time. But the tribe members are not the only ones that want the priceless treasure, and obstacle after obstacle arises to impede the carrying out of the promise and the mission of young Nathaniel.

If you haven't read Robert Louis Stevenson, this book will whet your interest in pursuing Treasure Island for further reading in a similar genre. I'm going to purchase a copy right now. In fact, I can't wait!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the origional edition of this book called The Indian's Ruby. It was awesome. I may read the new editions someday, just to see what they are like.

[Danie Cutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another pleasant tale. Writing style nicely matches pace of book. There is a slight confusion of leap between the books but could make a nice ongoing story. Three.five stars