Margaret Milardo draws on her teaching experience to create in Brandi a vividly realized and realistic portrait of a teenager who rises above her troubled background to become a successful, responsible, admirable, and even heroic individual. The story also is one of a person finding herself, not only who her parents were but more profoundly who she is as a unique and valuable individual-- along the way offering a lesson of endurance to all of us. Edward J. Rielly, author of Legends of American Indian Resistance.