Linda Buxbaum

Abi MacDougal lives on a cattle ranch in a pristine mountain valley in western Montana. While she and her family are at her brother's funeral, someone steals her baby sister, Gracie. They spend the next seven years searching for her, praying for her return. Without fail, they receive Gracie's picture every Christmas. "How cruel and yet kind," Abi's father declares. Abi's story begins in 1939 just before the outbreak of WWII. Heartbroken after losing her favorite brother and sister, Abi visits her brother's grave, sharing her doubts and worries just as she had done when he was alive. Her sweet, sad innocence and peanut butter honey sandwiches brings about a trusting friendship between her and a white spirit bear who meets her there nearly every day. Abi narrates the story of a large family and its triumphs and sorrows as they carry on during a war that changed the world and their lives forever.

Did you know that Andrew Jackson fought in and survived the Revolutionary War, spending time as a British prisoner? Did you know he lost his entire family? Did you know Europeans introduced the practice of scalping in America? Did you know that, for a time, the British offered generous payments in silver for Native American skins? Andrew Jackson and Cherokee leader, Major Ridge had a complicated relationship, but they had one thing in common--a bitter hatred toward the British. Did you know that Ridge and his men won the battle against the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend and that was the beginning of his friendship with Jackson? These two men forged a successful alliance fighting the Natives allied with the British during the War of 1812. After careful researching, this novel lends a new perspective to the Trail of Tears, which branded President Jackson as a heartless leader.