Badger Boy

Written by Elmer Kelton

Narrated by Jonathan Davis

The Texas Frontier, 1865

The Civil War is over and Texas is reluctantly yielding to the Union soldiers spreading across the state, even into the dangerous Comanche country. David "Rusty" Shannon, proud member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Indian depredations, finds that the rangers are being disbanded. He makes his way home to his land on the Red River, hoping to take up the life of a farmer and the hand of the beloved girl he left behind, Geneva Monahan.

But Geneva has married in Rusty's long absence and the country is filled with hostiles—not just Indians, but hate-filled Confederates, overbearing Union soldiers, and army renegades. Rusty's youth as a captive of the Comanches returns to haunt him when, in pursuit of Indian raiders, he takes as prisoner Badger Boy, a white child taken from his murdered parents by a Comanche warrior.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9781440797422

Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was the award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards were seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.

Reviews for Badger Boy

[fuzzi_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Engaging follow-up to the first in this author's "Ranger" series. The Civil War is ending, the rangers are being disbanded, and a young Texan heads home to an uncertain future as a young white captive Comanche is headed for trouble in his eagerness to be as good as the non-white Comanches in his tribe. Good read.