Toby Erdrich and the Golden Eclipse was a good first start for, aspiring fantasy writer, Lee White Fox. A realistic storyline with people that are realistic in and of themselves has been combined with fantastical time travel and a “touch of romance.”

Toby Erdrich, the main character, is a Chippewa American Indian who has come to inherit a mysterious medallion made of pure gold and copper from his late father. He travels to his uncle’s house in Green Bay, Wisconsin to try to find out what it is. After trying everything they could think of and finding nothing, he and his uncle go to a wise old Indian who tells them how dangerous it is and that they should go throw it into Lake Superior from whence it came. Toby decides to go on his own, hitch-hiking his way there. After sitting on the cliffs of Picture Rocks National Park off Lake Superior deliberating what he should do (after all, why throw away pure gold?) a golden eclipse occurs and Toby finds himself in a different time, way back before Columbus in the midst of his forefathers, the real Chippewa Indians.

Well, there’s the setup. Toby goes through many hardships that the real Indians had to go through and as he experiences them, we all go through the sands of time and learn about the people who populated America before America was even founded. He also has a great explanation and theory for how time travel could happen. This is a great history and culture lesson for all young fantasy readers.

To give you an idea what this book has in store, I’ll give you his view. Colonel Fox’s goal for this book was that it would also be a substitute for Harry Potter books. His words were more emphatic. Says Fox, “…who wants our children growing up admiring wimpy, twitty sorcerers, anyway? Not me.” I don’t think that this book is on the scale to interrupt a lot of kids’ Harry Potter reading, but for some it wil

The only thing that I didn’t like about this book was that it ends very suddenly, abruptly is a better word. The introduction is lengthy and gives you a feel for it, the meat is in the middle, and a supposedly upcoming climactic ending doesn’t happen. I guess this can tell you that I liked the book. But enjoy the meat in the middle anyway.

This book is definitely for ages 10-13. I give it a 7.2 out of 10 stars.