by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 11, 2010

It was 1973, and Robert Bright had been writing Georgie books for over a decade. But in the last year of the Nixon administration, he returned to the old-fashioned family with the old-fashioned friendly ghost living in their attic. And he even returns to a nostalgic setting, since the family takes a vacation to the American west. It's set in the present, but they still face a timeless showdown with bad guys - in this case, horse thieves who steal the pony of a little boy!

"Now everybody knows," Bright writes - echoing the familiar first words of his earlier Georgie books. But this time he finishes it with an old-timey message. ("…that the pioneers went West in covered wagons drawn by horses.") The family with the ghost in their attic decides to travel instead in a modified motor car which is basically a house with a belfry…on wheels. This seems a little unlikely, but it's really just a device to provide the ghost a way to ride along with the family for the rest of their adventure.

Bright describes the high mountains and vast plains. The ghost travels with an owl companion, but it's frightened by an enormous mountain eagle. There's also a cat named Herman with the party, and he discovers a big mountain wildcat. And the ghost thought he'd find a cow to be friends with - but it turned out to be a stampeding mob of hundreds!

So the west is still a little rugged after all, and Bright emphasizes this with his illustrations. As always, he shades simple sketches using only a few colors - this time, using inky bluish-black lines filled with yellows and greens, to better represent the scenery in the western United States. Bright draws cheerful sketches filled with smiling people and animals. But he does some best to try suggesting the wilderness too!

Georgie decides that the west "wasn't only too big but it was much too exciting for a little ghost." Then the family visits an Indian reservation, and decides they need to help the little boy whose pinto was stolen by horse thieves. They haven't found it by the end of the day, and assume the thieves had gotten away. The Indian boy also thought so, and wanted to cry, "But Indians aren't supposed to cry."

That particular sentence feels wrong in a couple different ways - suggesting one of the problems of reading a book from 1973. But Bright is trying to set up a situation where the ghost can come to the rescue. Georgie's owl friend patrols the skies, and spots the missing horse with her night eyes.

And then the ghost rides the horse back to its rightful owner….

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