★★★★☆ Freedom, honor, and slavery

Walk the World's Rim

Betty Baker

In 1527, five ships set sail from Cuba to explore Florida. "Florida" vaguely referred to essentially everything north of Mexico. Spain laid claim to all of it. Of the 600 men and women aboard, only four survived: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and an African slave of Dorantes', Esteban. For seven years they were held prisoner by Gulf Coast Native Americans. They made themselves valuable by curing sick people through prayer. After seven years they escaped and fled into the interior of what is now Texas, where they found a home for a while with a group of friendly "Avavare" people -- aside from the writings of Cabeza de Vaca, the name Avavare is now unknown. Eventually leaving the Avavare, they journeyed northwest, and then eventually south to Mexico.

Walk the World's Rim by children's author Betty Baker is an account of that journey. It is told from the point of view of Chakoh, a 14-year-old Avavare boy, and is centered on his relationship with Esteban. For all its brevity -- I read the whole in about two hours -- it is surprisingly complex.

Chakoh, who doesn't understand the relationships among the four men, admires the big dark man Esteban and considers him a friend. Esteban is strong and clever -- without him the party of four would have been lost. When the four depart for Mexico, Chakoh, lured by Esteban's stories of the riches of Mexico, joins them.

Chakoh holds slaves in contempt. In his world slaves are defeated warriors -- people who surrendered their freedom and their honor in exchange for their lives, rather than dying in battle. When he learns that Esteban is a slave, he doesn't know how to think about him.

Unlike so many stories about explorers and natives, this one doesn't transplant modern minds into people who lived 500 years ago. You never feel that Chakoh or Esteban is exactly like the people you are surrounded by in your daily life. Yet, while not exactly like, they are like -- they are human and believable.

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