FATHER AND SON (White Indian)
This bland 24th installment in Porter's White Indian series ( Hawk's Journey ) takes its heroes, the proud Seneca chief Renno and his son, Little Hawk, to Europe. Various and sundry relatives and friends also tag along. Their collective mission is to rescue Little Hawk's sister, Renna, and her husband, Beau, a count and younger brother of the future king Louis Philippe. Renna and her spouse have been caught in Portugal, where the count has been sent on a diplomatic mission, when Napoleon invades the Iberian Peninsula. Lazily written (the Empress Josephine is described as inclining her "well-coiffed head"), the book skips merrily from the American backwoods to Britain to Napoleon's court to a Portuguese convent. Foxes are hunted. Banquets are attended. Indian ceremonies are enacted. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are but two of the historical personages who appear. The somewhat stereotyped depiction of Native Americans might be offensive if the whole thing weren't so silly.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.