The Captive Boy – My Review

“The morning began with a clear blue sky and cool wind, with meadowlarks soaring from the long grass on slightly rolling prairie with wildflowers of all colors covering the land.”

First, I’ve taken several graduate level anthropology classes and I’ve read historical books on Native Americans and basically how our ancestors conquered them and drove them to reservations. Most accounts are not pretty.

Second, The Captive Boy could really be one of those nonfiction historical books relating a brief segment of time during the 1800s when the Indian wars were occurring.

Third, wow – the ending I never saw coming!

The Captive Boy is told and written with the voice of a newspaper reporter, Joe Grant, along with other historical journal entries. This unique storytelling gives this book life with a fresh voice. The story recounts how the army saved one German boy from the Comanche and how hatred over a bison calf drove a wedge between the boy and the man who tried his best to save him.

The dialogue-driven book places readers into the hardships of early life for men serving in the army while they were fighting the Indians. The journal excerpts from the camp doctor are very revealing and probably hold some truth to what it was like for doctors of that era to treat wounded men. Plus, it left me wondering if only doctors still employed natural treatments like the use of prickly pear, instead of chemicals, maybe our world and our health might be better.

Author, Julia Robb, realistically incorporates what the Llano Estacado looked like before ranching, farming, and settlement became the norm in the region. The grasses were so tall that they could indeed disguise horses and men alike. There were reports that the Llano Estacado had one of the largest prairie dog towns in the U.S. numbering into the millions, alongside bison, or how it seems the wind is always blowing on the Llano.

It took us an entire day to pass one prairie dog town. So many prairie dogs lived in this town we heard a hum while we passed, like the hum of a human city.

Robb created a near realistic journey into the world of betrayal, hope, love, war, and friendship centered around a captive boy named August. She ended the book perfectly – with an ending I never saw coming or imagined. My only wish – was seeing the actual drawings so often referenced by Grant. It would’ve made the story much more in-depth and meaningful.

Thanks, Julia for a fantastic read.