In the Shadow of the Alamo

The soldiers moved quietly in the darkness--this was to be a surprise attack. Slowly, fifteen-year-old Lorenzo slipped into the column of men as they crept forward, their frosty breath encircling their heads, their lips moving in silent prayer. About a hundred yards from the enemy fort, the soldiers stopped, and settled down to wait for dawn. As he sat silently on the cold, damp ground, awaiting El Presidente's call to arms, Lorenzo's head whirled with troubled thoughts. Lorenzo Bonifacio never intended to be a soldier. But when the soldados raid his tiny Mexican village, Lorenzo finds himself forced to join General Santa Anna's army...all because of the pesky goatherd Catalina and the haughty Esteban Esquivel, son of the wealthiest land-owner in the region. Thrown into an unlikely friendship, Lorenzo and Esteban endure boredom, exhaustion, hunger, and danger as the army makes its way across Mexico to San Antonio de Bexar, where rebellious norte-americanos have barricaded themselves inside an old mission called El Alamo. Neither boy can imagine what lies at the end of the march. And neither can accept the price paid during the fight for Texas.