Ride the High Country

Jo-Anne Mary Benson’s quarterly column in Ottawa Parent magazine
focuses on books for children and parents.

This concluding volume in the Rodeo Trilogy takes the central character,
C.J. Findlay (the Cowboy Kid), on a very unusual adventure. C.J. and
associates from Alberta’s D Lazy D Ranch have been invited by the
Prince of Mendenstein to Europe to participate in a special celebration.
The visitors find themselves roaming the Bavarian Alps in pursuit of
thieves who have stolen an important royal heirloom known as the Blade
of Mendenstein.

This absorbing, action-filled story features great characters
(particularly the villain Baron Steg and the eccentric mountain man
Ernst Kesserling), plenty of suspense, and a refreshing absence of
gender stereotyping. Although part of a trilogy, the book stands on its
own. Recommended.