Black Storm Comin'

By Diane Lee Wilson

WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.

When Colton Wescott sees this sign for the Pony Express, he thinks he has the solution to his problems. He's stuck with his ma and two younger sisters on the wrong side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with no way to get across. They were on the wagon train heading to California when Pa accidentally shot Colton and then galloped away. Ma is sick, and Colton needs money to pay the doctor. He'd make good money as a Pony rider. he also needs to get to California to deliver freedom papers to Ma's sister, a runaway slave. The Pony Express could get him there too...

Does Colton have what it takes to be a Pony Express rider? And if so, will traveling the dangerous route over the mountains bring him closer to family, freedom, and everything he holds dear?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Dec 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471103384

Diane Lee Wilson

Diane Lee Wilson is the author of Black Storm Comin’ (which won a Spur Award for Best Western Juvenile, was a Booklist Editors’ Choice, a VOYA Top Shelf fiction pick, a Notable Social Studies book, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon book, and a Book Links Lasting Connection), Firehorse (which was a Booklist Top Ten Mystery/Suspense pick and an ALA Amelia Bloomer Project pick), Raven Speak, and Tracks. She lives in Escondido, California. Visit her online at DianeLeeWilson.com.

Reviews for Black Storm Comin'

[cubsfan3410 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book! Wonderful characters and story. I learned a few things about the Pony Express while I read it too.

[odonnell_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Black Storm Comin'" by Diane Lee Wilson is an excellent historical fiction book. In this exciting adventure story, readers will not only learn about the history of the Pony Express, but also discover what life may have been like for a mixed race family traveling to California in 1860. Fellow wagon train travelers have scorned, ridiculed, and ignored the Westcott family because the father is white and the mother is black. When the father accidentally shoots main character 12 year-old Colton Westcott, he has a mental breakdown and runs away, almost certainly to die in the desert. Colton is left alone to take care of his three younger siblings and his mother who is suffering from "childbirth fever". Although tricked and abandoned on the trail by the other travelers, Colton and his sisters heroically managed to reach the next town and even found a doctor for the dying mother. However, the family is completely broke. When Colton saw a large poster at the telegraph office with the words "Wiry fellows not over eighteen... Must be expert riders... Willing to risk death daily...Orphans preferred", Colton applied to be a Pony Express rider. Told in the first person, "Black Storm Comin'" is classified as a "young adult" book. However, even though Wilson's details are graphic at times, fourth grade readers should be able to handle the material...a gripping story!

[lnommay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You can't help but cheer for twelve-year-old Colton, son of an African-American mother and a white father, who finds himself the man of the family in the mid 1800's while he travels with his family to California as part of a wagon train. Add to the story the prejudices of the times, a father that wasn't half the man as young Colton, and thrilling rides for the Pony Express, and you have yourself a great work of historical fiction.Booklist starred (August 2005 (Vol. 101, No. 22))Gr. 7-10. On a wagon train headed to California, Colton is left to care for his family after his father accidentally shoots him and then runs off in horror. His mixed race family (Pa was white; Ma is black) is harassed, ignored, and finally abandoned by their fellow travelers, but Colton still manages to lead his mother and siblings to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas before Ma's illness stops them. Ma entrusts Colton with her sister's freedom papers and begs him to deliver them to Sacramento, their ultimate destination. To meet her request, Colton joins the Pony Express--a job that brings further hardship and danger as Colton braves the coming winter to carry the mail on its final leg into California. Set in 1860, with the pending Civil War as its backdrop, Wilson's novelsubtly exposes the dangers of being mixed race in a volatile society. Wilson masterfully creates a multidimensional character in Colton, who possesses both youthful impetuousness and the wisdom of a man who has seen too much sadness for his young years. Societal barriers, played out larger than life in Colton's heart and mind, are the ultimate strength of this story. Readers will absorb greater lessons as they become engrossed in the excitement, beauty, and terror of Colton's journey to California and manhood. Kirkus Review (June 15, 2005)On the eve of the Civil War, Colton Wescott is 'a boy with a foot in each of two worlds-the black and the white, the slave and the free, the East and the West.' On his way west by wagon train, Colton is shot by his father who disappears, and the family eventually stalls before making it to California. But Colton sees a poster advertising for Pony Express riders and sees a chance to become a man in his father's place. He'll relay freedom papers from his mother to her sister in Sacramento and carry an important message from Washington about a plot to blow up forts and steal ammunition in an attempt to support the South in the coming war. Driving the historic Pony Express route, visiting museums and bookstores and reading journals, letters and obituaries, Wilson has done the research to make the story alive and immediate. An exciting story written with style. (map, author's note) (Fiction. 10-14)

[knielsen83 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great book about a boy who has some African-American blood in him before the civil war. He just passes for a white boy and ends up riding for the pony express when his family cannot travel fully west.

[mattlhm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Diane Lee Wilson's Black Storm Comin' tells the story of Colton Westcott, a 14-year-old boy who has to take on the roll of sole breadwinner for a family shunned by a wagon train and left to fend for itself out west in 1860. He does this by applying for the Pony Express, getting the job, and accomplishing what it is that's required of him, only to lose the position through a freak accident involving a inspirationally assertive black woman named Aunt Charlotte. Charlotte helps Colton accept and adjust to his being half-black which serves as an impetus for him sensing more than ever his own self worth and what it is he needs to accomplish for himself and his family. The story is told in the first person which tends to grow aggravating as Colton speaks in a sort of "aw, shucks" mannerism that's over-the-top, colloquially and needed to have been toned down by the author. Also, an all too convenient episode for Colton to rejoin the Pony Express after his dismissal occurs with a heavy-handed speech an Express agent delivers about Lincoln, slavery, and a Southern plot to blow up forts in Sacramento. It comes off more as sappy than as a satisfying plot device. Other than that, the story is a mild enough diversion that moves well when Colton is on the Pony Express trail and away from the problems being sufficiently enough handled by two small sisters and an ailing mother. This book would be a good addition to the multi-cultural section of a middle or high school library.

[abbylibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Riding the Pony Express seems to be the only way 12-year-old Colton Wescott can earn the money to pay for his Ma's doctor. He's more than willing and his soul seems to want to gallop across the deserts and mountains... but it's not as easy as all that. Colton's Pa is white and his Ma is a free black woman. Although Colton's light enough to "pass" for white, he knows he could be hanged if he's caught. And the route they need him to ride is extremely treacherous, over the Sierra Nevada mountains. But Colton's got more than money at stake. His Ma is trusting him to deliver freedom papers to her sister in Sacramento. And there's no time to lose. With a country on the brink of war, every second counts. This wild west adventure story has a very interesting perspective and there's a lot going on. Not only is Colton considering issues of race, but he's also testing himself. Can he "keep it together" and stick to his route? Can he keep his family together? And might he even play a part in keeping the Union together? At this time, the Pony Express was responsible for bringing news of the developing war to the prosperous state of California. I found it to be a really interesting and gripping book (and one I wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't been nominated for a Caudill... hurrah for the Caudills!).