Everything changes when a handsome stranger rides off into the night on Dusty’s horse There’s no way around it: Dusty’s horse Tazz needs to be put down. Once a champion jumper, Tazz can barely walk now due to hoof pain. And that’s not the only thing that’s wrong in Dusty’s life. Since her mother’s death, Dusty’s dad hasn’t stopped drinking—even after his drunk driving put Dusty in the hospital with a now-chronic back injury. Why don’t they just put me down too? she wonders. While Dusty is giving Tazz one last grooming, his ears suddenly prick up as a stranger approaches: a young boy with an otherworldly beauty. He offers to take Tazz with him, and the two race off into the distance as though Tazz were in perfect health, with the boy perched on his back. Who could this person be? And what is he doing here? It’s only when Dusty returns to school the next day that she hears about the boy who was killed. When she sees his photo in the newspaper, she knows that he’s the mysterious guy who rode off on Tazz. What she doesn’t know is that he will soon return.

With a reputation as the hot-air balloon capital of the world and the home of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta®, the skies of the southwestern desert city of Albuquerque frequently showcase the magic and adventure of ballooning. This legacy links back to the 1880s and a man by the name of Park Van Tassel. Through his pioneering flight, Van Tassel not only opened the skies to future generations across New Mexico, but he also opened minds to the possibility of manned flight throughout the American West. A charismatic, P. T. Barnum-like showman, Van Tassel rose from obscurity to introduce the new science of ballooning and parachuting throughout the West. Van Tassel toured extensively--from California to Utah, Colorado, and Louisiana and later embarking on an international journey that took him to Hawaii, Australia, Southeast Asia, India, Africa, and beyond. Sky Rider weaves together the many threads of Van Tassel's extraordinary life journey, situating him at last in his rightful place among the prominent aerial exhibitionists of his time.

Johnny Jewel works as a cowboy but his ambition is to be an aviator and he spends much of his time studying and dreaming about flying. Johnny learns of a damaged plane abandoned in the desert on the Mexican side of the border, and comes up with a plan to put it to work. His affairs are being monitored by Mary V, the ranch owner's spunky daughter, who is slowly taking interest in Johnny. But in the meantime, a gang of rustlers are taking advantage of his passion for flying in order to distract him from his job of keeping an eye over the ranch's horses. The Thunder Bird is a sequel of Johnny Jewel's story and it looks like our heroes didn't learn their lessons, as Johnny seems more stubborn and Mary V more spoiled. Johnny is determined to pay his debt before going back to the ranch and to Mary V, but this time his affairs take a foray into an international intrigue. Bertha Muzzy Bower (1871-1940) was an American author who wrote novels and short stories about the American Old West. She is best known for her first novel "Chip of the Flying U" about Flying U Ranch and the "Happy Family" of cowboys who lived there. The novel rocketed Bower to fame, and she wrote an entire series of novels set at the Flying U Ranch. Several of Bower's novels were turned into films.

Johnny Jewel works as a cowboy but his ambition is to be an aviator and he spends much of his time studying and dreaming about flying. Johnny learns of a damaged plane abandoned in the desert on the Mexican side of the border, and comes up with a plan to put it to work. His affairs are being monitored by Mary V, the ranch owner's spunky daughter, who is slowly taking interest in Johnny. But in the meantime, a gang of rustlers are taking advantage of his passion for flying in order to distract him from his job of keeping an eye over the ranch's horses. The Thunder Bird is a sequel of Johnny Jewel's story and it looks like our heroes didn't learn their lessons, as Johnny seems more stubborn and Mary V more spoiled. Johnny is determined to pay his debt before going back to the ranch and to Mary V, but this time his affairs take a foray into an international intrigue. Bertha Muzzy Bower (1871-1940) was an American author who wrote novels and short stories about the American Old West. She is best known for her first novel “Chip of the Flying U” about Flying U Ranch and the "Happy Family" of cowboys who lived there. The novel rocketed Bower to fame, and she wrote an entire series of novels set at the Flying U Ranch. Several of Bower's novels were turned into films.