Trail Cook

Author's Summary

MWSA Review

Trail Cook, The Legend of Able Piddington is the tale of a young man living in England who is enthralled by the tales of the American Wild West. The year is 1875 and we are invited to journey with Able as he crosses the Atlantic as a cook’s assistant, earns a reputation as a bare knuckle fighter on the docks of Canada, travels overland on the Santa Fe Trail, and becomes a legend with the Apache.

Typical of many of the men and women of the era, Piddington has to develop many skills in order to survive the hardships and rigors of traveling and settling in the frontier. Along the way he becomes a man that anyone could be proud of.

Using dialect and dialogue, Michaelson paints a picture that is both colorful and creative. The author has researched and drawn from a full well of history to make this particular era come to life on the pages of Trail Cook. The quick-read adventure will have you traveling much faster than the oxen that pulled Able’s wagon and hoping at the end that there will be more adventures to come from Michelson’s pen (or keyboard).

This reader would have loved the inclusion of some of Able’s recipes, in particular Piddleton’s Cakes and the soda biscuits. My mouth is still watering at the thought…

Reviewed by: Betsy Beard (2012)