• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 5

Broken Trail is the story a thirteen-year-old white boy, the son of United Empire Loyalists, who has been captured and adopted by the Oneida people. Striving to find his vision oki that will guide him in his quest to become a warrior, Broken Trail disavows his white heritage — he considers himself Oneida. But everything changes when Broken Trail, alone in the woods on his vision quest, is mistakenly shot by a redcoat soldier. Broken Trail is taken to the soldier's camp and then sent south on a mission to deliver a message to Major Patrick Ferguson that could save many lives. Narrowly escaping being slaughtered in the Battle of Kinds Mountain, Broken Trail finds his long-lost older brother, who had been fighting for the British and has been captured by the rebels.

Jean Rae Baxterholds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto and a B.Ed. from Queen's. She has been nominated for the 2022 Governor General's History Award for Popular Media: the Pierre Berton Award.
Although she grew up in Hamilton, "down home" was Essex County, where her ancestors had settled, some as Loyalists in the 1780's following the American Revolution and some a century earlier, in the days of New France.
Jean has written six historical novels, the "Forging a Nation Series," covering the period from 1777 to 1793:
The Way Lies North (2007)
Broken Trail (2011)
Freedom Bound (2012)
The White Oneida (2014)
Hope's Journey (2015)
The Knotted Rope (2021)
With The Battle on the Ice she moves ahead to the Patriot Wars of 1837—1838. Jean's historical novels have won awards in Canada and the United States, including all three Moonbeam medals, ——Gold, Silver, Bronze?for Young Adult Historical Fiction.
She was also nominated for the 2022 Governor General's History Award for Popular Media: the Pierre Berton Award: About her series, "Forging A Nation" the committee write: "We were honoured to learn more about your work as a teacher, writer and public speaker. Your series… has done the important work of introducing young readers to the stories of the past and fostering a life—long interest in Canadian history."
She has also authored a murder mystery, Looking for Cardenio, and two short story collections, Twist of Malice and Scattered Light.•
As a teacher of creative writing Jean holds workshops on using the tools of fiction to bring family history to life.

Jean Rae Baxter's profile page

• Gold Medal, Moonbeam Children's Book Award

“Broken Trail is a gripping tale whose believable hero is genuinely torn between the Oneida people who have become his loved family and his earlier life before he was captured. His confusion and emotional stress, as he lies between care and duty to his injured brother, and his devotion to his new family and the need to prove himself to them, is thoroughly convincing. A tumultuous period in North American history becomes more real for young people through the adventures and loyalties of Broken Trail, his brother Elijah, and his companion in adventurer, Red Sun Rising.” — Deakin Newsletter

Broken Trail

A sequel to The Way Lies North, this historical adventure story is set in 1780 when the British are fighting the Americans for control of the United States. The Oneida people, from north of the St. Lawrence, are loosely allied with the British. Broken Trail, a white boy who has been raised by the Oneida, is enlisted by the British to carry a vital message south to the British commander near Charlotte, North Carolina. Broken Trail journeys alone, surviving in the wilderness thanks to his Oneida upbringing. Along the way, he befriends a Cherokee boy, with whom he shares his anger at the settlers taking over aboriginal land. In Charlotte, he encounters his own white brother, who has been wounded, and nurses him back to health. Broken Trail is confused. Is he of the aboriginal world or the white world?

Caution: A disturbing scene of a family scalped leads to Broken Trail realizing his task is to “find a better way”.

Broken Trail

A sequel to The Way Lies North, this historical adventure story is set in 1780 when the British are fighting the Americans for control of the United States. The Oneida people, from north of the St. Lawrence, are loosely allied with the British. Broken Trail, a white boy who has been raised by the Oneida, is enlisted by the British to carry a vital message south to the British commander near Charlotte, North Carolina. Broken Trail journeys alone, surviving in the wilderness thanks to his Oneida upbringing. Along the way, he befriends a Cherokee boy, with whom he shares his anger at the settlers taking over aboriginal land. In Charlotte, he encounters his own white brother, who has been wounded, and nurses him back to health. Broken Trail is confused. Is he of the aboriginal world or the white world?

Caution: A disturbing scene of a family scalped leads to Broken Trail realizing his task is to “find a better way”.

Broken Trail

Broken Trail, a 13-year-old Oneida boy at the time of the American Revolution, has undertaken a vision quest to find his oki, his spirit protector. He wants nothing more than to become a warrior like his uncle, Carries a Quiver. He wants to forget that before he was Broken Trail, adopted son of an Oneida couple, he was Moses Cobham.

A British soldier interrupts Broken Trail’s vision quest, accidentally shooting him in the leg. At the British camp, after his wound is dressed, the general asks him to take a message to the British commander at Kings Mountain, far to the south, in exchange for a rifle

At Kings Mountain, Broken Trail comes face-to-face with his past and with the knowledge that it may not be so easy to forget who he once was. Perhaps, in fact, it will be important to the future of the Oneida that he remember.

Author Jean Rae Baxter has written an engaging, absorbing story — well-plotted, full of detail and full of sympathy and understanding of human nature. Broken Trail’s quest for his true identity is one every adolescent can identify with.

This novel is the second in the Loyalist trilogy that began with The Way Lies North. Baxter is working on a third novel with the same characters.

Broken Trail

In the middle of the American Revolution, 13-year-old Broken Trail is caught between conflicting worlds. Having been born British but raised by the Oneida, Broken Trail is faced with a difficult decision when he finds his long-lost older brother. Do his loyalties lie with his brother and the British or with the First Nations people who adopted him? Or can he find a way forward that will benefit both peoples?