About This Book
Reach for this book when your adolescent is beginning to question the complexities of the adult world or feels the weight of growing responsibilities. Borderlands follows thirteen-year-old Ben Curtis as he is uprooted from his family farm and thrust into the unforgiving landscape of the 1871 American West. This is not a sanitized cowboy story. It is a gritty, realistic exploration of a young boy forced to navigate the blurred lines between right and wrong while enduring financial hardship and physical peril. Parents will appreciate the book's commitment to historical accuracy and its deep emotional honesty regarding grief and the loss of innocence. It is best suited for mature middle schoolers (ages 11 to 15) who are ready to engage with the darker, more complicated aspects of American history and the difficult transition into manhood.
