1. What circumstances force young Sarah to abandon her farm and head west with unknown and possibly suspicious strangers?

2. Why does she dislike them?

3. Describe some of the difficulties you might experience traveling in a covered wagon.

4. Can you describe the route they take from Minnesota to Montana?

5. Who’s voice does Sarah hear? Is it a real ghost? What is it telling her to do?

6. Do you like Michael Kerber? Why do you think Sarah dislikes him?

7. Is the Widow Kerber really a witch?

8. Is Sarah doing the right thing in escaping? What problems does this cause for her? For the Kerbers?

9. What really happens in the Shakota village? Whom do you think Walahata really is?

10. What is the turning point in Sarah’s relationship to the Kerbers, to Michael especially?

11. Describe the “haunted cave.” Do you think it’s really haunted? What happens there?

12. How does Sarah save the family? Could you have thought of another way out?

13. Would you like to have had Tom as your little brother? Does he really know “ox talk?”

14. Horses, oxen, and buffalo play a large role in this story --- why?

15. What would you guess the future will be like for Sarah and Michael?