Crows and Cards / Joseph Helgerson / 344 pages / July Challenge - Set in St. Louis

When I searched the catalog for St. Louis based fiction and came up with this title, I thought it would be about the St. Louis Cardinal baseball team.  Boy!  Was I ever wrong!  I was not disappointed, however!  This historical fiction tale, set in 1849 St. Louis, tells of young Zebulon Crabtree and his intense disappointment at being shipped off to St. Louis to be apprenticed to his uncle, a tanner.  On the steamboat to St. Louis, Zeb falls in with a gambler who convinces him that gambling money off rich folks is actually helping them to give to the poor.  Zeb can't figure out why the gambler cheated a poor, bling Indian chief, however, and his conscience forces him to use the gambler's superstitions to thwart his cheating.  This audio recording is a delight and the story ending is a real laugh-out-loud treat.  The is a very informative Afterward and an excellent Dictionary.