Sent to LA on the famous Santa Fe Chief Train, four children find themselves drawn into a quest for the last crystal. Before they are half-way to Santa Fe they discover a Nazi spy and one of them is kidnapped. Thrown from the train as they rescue her, the children find themselves in a vast wilderness. Their only hope of getting home is to find the Last Crystal.
James finds himself on the steps of a small church with no idea who he is or how he got there. Adopted by German-American pacifists on the cusp of the US entry into WWI, he struggles to find his identity. In doing so, he is drawn into a quest for the Last Crystal.
The Alabaster Box is just the sort of book teachers long for their students to discover; it is a story full of imagination and humor and yet it is rooted in a time and place worth getting to know better. This enchanting tale set in the Old West cast a spell over my 4th and 5th grade students as we read of the exploits of the spirited pioneer girl Grace Willis, the devious Celeste and the mysterious Mr Nichols. It is a book my students, both boys and girls, just couldn’t put down. Jon Dunlap, Rivendell School, Arlington, VA
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