Skies Like These

In Tess Hilmo's "Skies Like These," twelve-year-old Jade's perfect summers have always been spent reading and watching TV reruns, so she's not happy when her parents send her off to Wyoming to her aunt's house. She meets a boy who calls himself Roy Parker--just like the real name of the legendary rebel cowboy Butch Cassidy. Roy's dad's hardware store has closed because a chain store has opened up in town, and Roy thinks it is just like the big cattle barons in Butch's day who put the local ranchers out of business. He wants Jade to be his Sundance Kid and help him pull some stunts worthy of Butch Cassidy. Sabotage the big store? Outsmart the store's owner by doing reconnaissance on his ranch? Jade wants to be a good friend, but she's not so sure about Roy's schemes.