Eh. Nothing wrong with it, but I read Stratton-Porter's Laddie recently, and there's nothing here that's much different - not the same story, but the same flavor. Imaginative child in the American West (inland California, I think), in the late 1800s (there are a few references to the past Civil War, not many). Her in-family problems, her family's problems with a powerful neighbor, school squabbles, petty friendships and enmities; a touch of Old Yeller, a heavy dose of unnecessary guilt, and a sort-of happy ending. Not bad, but not the rich story I expect from Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Glad I read it, but I have no interest in ever reading it again. It might have been more interesting to see the same story from Nellie's POV, actually. ( )