HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: Fighting Devil’s Backbone, Book 2: E. Z. and the Chikasha Warrior
Author: Tony L. Turnbow
Illustrator: Hanson Suhendra
Publisher: Tony L. Turnbow, 2021
ISBN-13: 978-1736260814
ISBN-10: 1736260812
Related website(s): http://www.tonyturnbow.com (Author)
Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Recommended reading level: Ages 13-18
Rating: ***** 5 stars
(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)
Category: Historical fiction
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
Disclosure: Many publishers, literary agents, and/or authors provide free copies of their books in exchange for an honest review without requiring a positive opinion. Any books donated to Home School Book Review for review purposes are in turn donated. No other compensation has been received for the reviews posted on Home School Book Review.
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Turnbow,Tony L. Fighting Devil’s Backbone, Book 2: E. Z. and the Chikasha Warrior (Published in 2021 by Tony L. Turnbow). It is 1809, and teenager Ezekiel (E.Z.) Perkins, his widowed mother Sarah, and little brother David have left their old home in Pennsylvania and been traveling the Natchez Trace, tha mysterious, frontier road known as “The Devil’s Backbone,” in search of a new home. Sarah is injured in an accident at Colbert’s Ferry and asks their strange traveling companion, Mr. Burton, to be a good father to her sons if anything should happen to her. Sarah does in fact die, but E.Z. doesn’t trust Burton, so the boys run away to Underwood’s Village where a friendly Chickasaw warrior named Tashka offers them a home. However, when a party of enemy Creek warriors attack, Tashka is killed, and E.Z. and David are captured.
What will happen to the boys? Does Mr. Burton ever find them? And if they escape from the Creeks, can they avoid the bandits who have been following them? In Book 2 of the “Fighting Devil’s Backbone” series, as E. Z. struggles to survive, he must learn the skills of an Indian hunter and warrior to save his own life and the lives of his brother David and his best friend Isaiah. E. Z. and the Chikasha Warrior contains excellent historic details that would be good reading for older kids learning Tennessee history, along with exciting plot twists that keep the reader turning the pages. The story in this well-written and well-paced second book slows down and gets more into characterization of the main individuals. I enjoyed it and look forward to book 3.
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