A HAND ON MY SHOULDER.

By WilliamH. Brown "16. New York: VantagePress, 1962. 305 pp. $3.95.

A dozen years ago William Brown's first book, Colonel John Goffe, Eighteenth Century New Hampshire, appeared. This was an historical biography of John Goffe for whom Mr. Brown's native Goffstown, N. H., was named and of life among the New Hampshire colonial settlers during the days of the French and Indian Wars.

In this latest book, A Hand On MyShoulder, which the author labels as "historical fiction," Mr. Brown has drawn on much of the material assembled for his previous book to document the story of a New Hampshire youth who is captured by the St. Francis Indians.. The 16-year-old boy lives at first with the Indians, then with the French in Montreal, then returns to the Indians and the frontier, and, finally, after many battles and adventures winds up returning safely home.

The author has skillfully blended fact and fiction in his narrative. Many of the characters the lad encounters (John Goffe, Robert Rogers, Wheelright, Stevens, and the Indians Titigaw and Christo) were well known in colonial days. Even some of the episodes are drawn from historical accounts of the day.

Perhaps the greatest contribution the book makes is through its perceptive insight into the Indian viewpoints of land ownership, which sparked the bloody conflicts waged along the New Hampshire-Canadian borders. Mr. Brown is at his best in describing the daily life and customs of the Abenakis and the values which they held until the bitter end.

For thirty-two years Mr. Brown served as Principal of the Glens Falls (N. Y.) Senior High School, and his sympathetic approach and understanding of human nature, particularly among young people, shine through every page in this book. Last year Mr. Brown was one of twelve educators awarded the American Educators Medal by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. In a recommendation written to the Foundation by one of his teachers, the teacher suggested that the title of his book, A Hand OnMy Shoulder, appropriately summarized Mr. Brown's outstanding contributions to the young people of the Glens Falls area.

Indeed, A. Hand On My Shoulder is a significant and enlightening contribution to the historical fiction of our day and will he of particular interest to all concerned with our colonial heritage.