He Will Go Fearless

“Dan­ger, adven­ture, and sur­vival com­bine to make this a rich­ly detailed sto­ry. … Bil­ly is cer­tain­ly coura­geous. Boys, espe­cial­ly, will enjoy this book.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“Lawlor paints a strik­ing pic­ture of the rough-and-tum­ble world of the post-Civ­il War west­ern migra­tion. Her vivid descrip­tions of hitch­ing up the oxen each morn­ing or the dif­fi­cul­ties of ford­ing rivers make Bil­ly’s Old West come alive.” (Book­list)

“…the pure west­ern fla­vor of the book will attract read­ers who appre­ci­ate the genre or are look­ing to get a sense of life in the Old West.” (VOYA)

“A sto­ry rich in his­tor­i­cal detail, with com­pelling char­ac­ters and fast-paced adven­ture, it will appeal to even reluc­tant read­ers. Bil­ly is an excit­ing new char­ac­ter that teens will love. This excit­ing book was hard to put down … I’ll be watch­ing for more from this tal­ent­ed writer, and the end­ing did leave an open­ing for a pos­si­ble sequel.” (five star rat­ing, www.teensreadtoo.com)

“Bil­ly is a char­ac­ter many stu­dents can iden­ti­fy with. He has a messed up home life, lit­tle inter­est in school, dreams of bet­ter places, and wish­es to be more grown up. Lau­rie Lawlor’s research into peri­od diaries for authen­tic details is evi­dent. … (This will) make a great read-aloud.” (Library Media Con­nec­tion)

“From snake-oil sales­men to a stormy Plat­te Riv­er cross­ing, Lawlor’s com­ing-of-age tale cre­ates an authen­tic sense of place in the after­math of the Civ­il War. … it is Bil­ly him­self, his time­less aspi­ra­tions and his men­tor­ship by the enig­mat­ic lon­er Frenchy that warms the heart and affirms the pow­er of per­se­ver­ance and hope. A worth­while rite of pas­sage.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Fif­teen-year-old Bil­ly sneaks off to find his birth father, nev­er reck­on­ing on the adven­tures that will come his way as part of a cat­tle dri­ve in the wild West.” (The Bul­letin of the Cen­ter for Chil­dren’s Books)

“Based loose­ly on diaries of west­ern artist William Hen­ry Jack­son, read­ers will cheer for Bil­ly as he strug­gles toward Vir­ginia City and steps into adult­hood.” (Kansas Nation­al Edu­ca­tion Asso­ci­a­tion Read­ing Cir­cle Catalog)

“Eager to find his father at the end of the Civ­il War,15 year-old Bil­ly heads west to the Mon­tana Ter­ri­to­ry, but after being con­vinced to become an ox-dri­ver, Bil­ly finds him­self deal­ing with per­son­al chal­lenges and hos­tile ter­rain that he nev­er expect­ed to face.” (www.just-for-kids.com)

“Bil­ly at age 15 finds out that his real father is still alive and runs away from home to find his father in Vir­ginia City, Neva­da. … This old west adven­ture will appeal to stu­dents in mid­dle schools.” (Lin­coln Coun­ty School Dis­trict, Oregon)