The Broken Hand

Known by the Indians as "Broken Hand," Thomas Fitzpatrick was a trapper and a trailblazer who became the head of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. With Jedediah Smith he led the trapper band that discovered South Pass; he then shepherded the first two emigrant wagon trains to Oregon, was official guide to Fremont on his longest expedition, and guided Colonel Phil Kearny and his Dragoons along the westward trails to impress the Indians with howitzers and swords. Fitzpatrick negotiated the Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 at the largest council of Plains Indians ever assembled. Among the most colorful of mountain men, Fitzpatrick was also party to many of the most important events in the opening of the West.

Who was Narciste Duprey and why did he build a mansion on Poverty Ridge in Sacramento, California? Why did his beauti ful wife, Velvulott a Gomez, hate him so much? Why did the children born into this house have broken, shatt ered fi ngers? Why, to this day, does the old mansion sit dark and empty? The House of the Broken Hands is a frightening ghost story about the people and the lives they lived in this mansion, and what happened to them. Set in Sacramento in the 1990s, a journalist who lives in the neighborhood becomes curious about the old house with no signs of life. She is determined to learn its history, and aft er hearing the bare bones of the story from an old woman who grew up in the neighborhood, she is compelled to dig deeper into the houses past.

A hand-drawn and hand-painted graphic novel about a smashed finger.

FROM THE AUTHOR: "Breaking a bone is not fun, but April now knew that broken bones heal." A few years ago, my granddaughter broke her arm and the experience of the break itself, an x-ray and cast was scary for her. I looked for a book to help explain what was going on and when I was unable to find any book that covered the topic, I decided to write my own. This book is written to help young children understand what a broken bone is and how it gets fixed. It's my hope that this book will reassure other young children that broken bones heal.