The author may well be proud of [Odyssey of Courage: The Story of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a] history that reads like fiction, with a style that is flawless. Maia Wojciechowska has chosen to write about a man who is relatively unknown, but one who deserves much more recognition. Cabeza de Vaca's overland journey from Florida to Mexico, seeking for those cities of pure gold, is one of amazing endurance and courage, as exciting as any tale that [Walt] Disney could imagine…. [Cabeza de Vaca] tried to bring peace and freedom where only brutality and avarice existed. His enemies saw to it that he was imprisoned, misunderstood and misrepresented, that he would die a broken man with only his dreams and ideas and fervent love of God intact. But his principles live on to this day and young readers of the present will feel privileged to read...