Mr. O’Dell’s tale of Coronado and the fictional mapmaker Esteban Sandoval and the search for gold was our first homeschool read aloud of the year. We finished it last Friday. I think the urchins enjoyed the book, and it fit into both the history unit for Karate Kid (12), who’s studying world history from 1492-1900, and the history plan for Betsy-Bee (10), who’s studying Texas history. I assume that the urchins were intrigued with the intrigue in the book because there were many requests for just one more chapter. That’s either a sign that they like the book or that they want to postpone math hour. Whatever . . .

I thought I’d transcribe some snippets of conversation that I had with Betsy-Bee and with Karate Kid about the book. These are the pieces of the conversation I remember:

Mom: Did you like The King’s Fifth?

Betsy-Bee: Yes, I liked some parts a lot. I liked the parts where Esteban was in prison and on trial. Some of the rest of it was blah, blah, blah.

KK: Uhhh, it was a good book.

Mom: Why was Esteban on trial? What was he accused of doing wrong?

Betsy-Bee: He didn’t give the gold to the king, the king’s fifth.

KK: The king’s fifth of the treasure of Cibola. He was later accused of killing Captain Mendoza.

Mom: What did he do with the gold?

Betsy-Bee: He buried it.

Mom: Well, not exactly buried it. He threw it in a sinkhole, kind of like quicksand. Who was your favorite character in the book?

Betsy-Bee: Zia.

KK: Captain Mendoza was cool.

BB; I kind of liked that guy who stole all their stuff.

Mom: You didn’t like Mendoza or that guy (Torres). They were the bad guys.

KK: They weren’t the bad guys!

Mom: They were both thieves, and Mendoza told his dog to kill those two Indians! They were obsessed with gold. I actually liked Father Francisco the best. He was good and not gold-crazy.
So, Zia. Why did you like her?

Betsy-Bee: She was a girl, and she liked the horse with the cool name, Blue Star.

Mom: I think you liked her hat with the bells around the brim. Because you like to dress up in costumes.

BB: No, it would be annoying to have to hear that jingle all the time.

Mom: Would you read another book like this one to yourself?

KK: No, I like it more when you read it to us. Actually, I always like books more when you read them to us.

BB: Sometimes you can read boring books, though.