THE GHOSTS OF LUCKLESS GULCH

Estrella has special gifts: She can run so fast that she sets fire to the air, and she can also heal and tame both ranch animals and some creatures that are more unusual—like a Kickle Snifter, a Sidehill Wowser and a Rubberado, all of whom have very strange and useful skills. In this tallest of original tall tales, set during the California Gold Rush, brave, resourceful Estrella and her pets help form mountains, turn the Whitewoods into Redwoods and deal with a pack of evil ghost miners. There are eccentric characters galore and lots of improbable adventures as Isaacs takes the reader on a wild, imaginative, breathless ride, employing rich language packed with colorful western idioms. Santat’s acrylic-and-ink illustrations, enhanced via Photoshop, capture the flavor of the Wild West and are appropriately exaggerated to complement the extraordinary events described. Lovely endpapers depict a softer, gentler Estrella dwarfed by the majestic redwoods. A delightful, spirited heroine in an enormously enjoyable romp. (Picture book. 7-10)