Josefina and the Hanging Tree
by Isabel R. Marvin

The year is 1857, and Goliad, Texas, is caught up in the Cart War. Mexican drivers, who haul freight from the coast for smaller wages than the Anglos, are being captured, tried by kangaroo courts, and hanged at the hanging tree on the Goliad courthouse lawn.

These events have the Mexican community living in fear, including fourteen-year-old Josefina, whose father, Jose, is a cart driver. Josefina’s best friend is Maxi, who teaches her to hunt and fish.

Josefina and Maxi search for Josefina’s grandmother after she wanders off during a norther. They save a runaway slave and learn to read and write from a village doctor who some call a witch.

But Josefina and Maxi face their greatest challenge when Jose is ambushed and taken to the hanging tree. Then it’s all up to them and Guadalupe, Josefina’s pet goat, to stall the hanging long enough for the Texas Rangers to arrive.  

ISABEL R. MARVIN is a native Texan who attended high school in Goliad. Josefina and the Hanging Tree is her second young adult novel.

A Chaparral Book for Young Readers