Nelson Shares ‘A Tale Out Of Luck’

“A Tale Out of Luck” by Willie Nelson (with Mike Blakely), 2008, Center Street Publishing, $21.99/ $23.99 Canada, 256 pages: Let’s say someone wronged you.
They cut you off in traffic. Stole from you. Backed into your car and didn’t leave a note. Hacked into your computer and left a virus.
Things like that make you mad, and you probably plot all kinds of revenge ranging from mild to murder. Sometimes, though, getting back at someone gets you nothing but trouble.
In the new novel “A Tale Out of Luck” by Willie Nelson (with Mike Blakely), an old crime follows former Texas Ranger Hank Tomlinson, and someone wants revenge. The problem is, Hank’s innocent.
In small towns, word travels fast. So when Hank Tomlinson brought a fine racing mare from Kentucky to tiny Luck, Texas, everybody knew about it.
Hank was famous in them parts. Once a Texas Ranger, then the founder of the town and owner of Broken Arrow Ranch, everybody knew Hank and liked him well.
Everybody, that is, except the neighbors at the Double Horn Ranch. Still, the Tomlinsons got by fine with Jack Brennan and his men at the Double Horn.
Then, Hank’s mare went missing on his sons’ watch. As if rustlers weren’t enough of a problem, a stranger with arrows in his body and a branding rod in his possession was found near the Broken Arrow, and soldiers in nearby Fort Jennings attacked the Comanches with little provocation. Being unarmed in Indian country was suddenly a foolish and dangerous thing.
When someone came pokin’ around, asking about the stranger’s murder, things got even worse.
As Hank’s sons, Skeeter and Jay Blue, went in search of the missing mare, Hank found himself in the fight of his life. Years before, three of his fellow Rangers were killed, and rumor was that Hank murdered them. The distinctive markings on the arrows found in the stranger were identical to the ones that killed Hank’s friends. Hank knows the arrows come from someone aimed at revenge, but he has no alibi and the state police are on their way to arrest him.
With the help of a heart o’gold saloon keeper, an albino ex-slave and his Mexican wife, two wet-behind-the-ears boys and several ranch hands, Hank tries to save himself from the noose before time and luck run out.
Well. All I can say is that author Nelson might want to keep his day job.
That’s not to say that this is a bad book, because it’s not. But alas, it’s not a great book, either.
“A Tale Out of Luck” lacks the poetry of good westerns and its authenticity is questionable, particularly the language. While the characters are likeable, they’re typical western fare. The ubiquitous cowboys-and-Indians battle scene is exciting but culminates in a silly ending with just too many ho-hum, saw-that-one-coming coincidences.
This book reads good enough but could be better, that’s all. It’s merely okay.
Readers who put cowpoke novels on their reading list just for something different might like this book. If you’re a die-hard western fan looking for the next L’Amour or Kelton, though, you’re out of luck here.

‘ANGEL’ REVIEW
“Angel Girl” by Laurie Friedman, illustrations by Ofra Amit, 2008, Carolrhoda Books, $16.95/$19.95 Canada, 32 pages: Do you have lots of friends?
You probably have tons of them. You’ve got friends from school and friends from your neighborhood, the pals you’ve got from summer school and the ones you play with at the park or during vacations.
And if you’re a lucky kid, at least one of those friends will still be around when you’re as old as mom or maybe even as old as grandma.
In the new book “Angel Girl” by Laurie Friedman (illustrations by Ofra Amit), a boy named Herman has a friend who saved his life.
The last time Herman saw his mother, she pushed him toward his older brothers and told him to lie about his age. “The time has come for you to be a man,” she said. And she stepped into the open train car.
Herman was taken to a camp and given a uniform and a work assignment. He missed his home and his dog. He missed toothbrushes and pillows because he didn’t have those things at the camp.
He missed his mother. He was cold and tired. He was hungry.
Very hungry.
One night, Herman’s mother came to him in a dream. She told him that an angel would save him. Two days later, a girl appeared on the other side of the camp fence, and she gave Herman an apple.
Every day, Herman quietly sneaked to the fence. Every day, his Angel Girl tossed an apple over the wire, even though it meant big danger to them both. The apple kept Herman alive. It gave him hope.
When the war was over, Herman moved to England. After he grew up, he made a new life in America, but he never forgot his Angel Girl. He thought he would only see her again in his dreams.
One night, a friend invited Herman out on a date with a beautiful girl who was kind and smart. She said she grew up on a farm, near a camp. Every day, she said, she took apples to a boy on the other side of the fence.
And Herman found his Angel Girl again.
I can’t help myself. “Angel Girl” makes me cry every time I open the cover.
It’s not the illustrations by Amit, even though they set the tone perfectly with faces that will haunt you and eyes that speak volumes, even for a children’s book.
It’s not the author’s note with which Friedman starts this story or even the tale itself, incredible as it is. 
No, what gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up is the fact that this book is based on a true story.
Yep, and you can see a picture of the real Herman and his wife, Roma, in the back of this beautiful little book.
“Angel Girl” is almost too powerful for the 5-to-10 year olds it’s meant for. In fact, I wonder if the storyline might even scare them a little. Read it with caution to little ones. Read it for yourself again and again.

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book.