The oldest image of the Virgin Mary in the United States a petite wooden statue accompanied Spanish Conquistadors and missionaries to the Kingdom of Nuevo Mexico in 1625. Her existence has been tumultuous. She was rescued from a burning church, kidnapped and held for ransom, and had her wooden form mutilated and remade. This book conveys the essence of devotion given to the statue who is yearly celebrated at "La Fiesta de Santa Fe" and yearly carried in procession based on a promise made over 300 years ago. She is the Queen of New Mexico, enthroned in her own chapel at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has the wardrobe of a Spanish Queen with over 200 exquisite gowns and priceless crowns and jewelry. Her name is La Conquistadora, "Our Lady of the Conquest." Was she a conqueror of territories or a conqueror of hearts and healer of human weaknesses? This is her story. Sue Houser is a native of New Mexico and is interested in preserving the history and culture of the state. A retired social worker, she writes about the inspiration and passion behind the stories. This is her second historical, non-fiction book.

Twelve-year-old Walter plans to spend the summer of 1927 watching his beloved Chicago Cubs play baseball. Instead, his life is upended when his mother is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Walter leaves his father and his friends to accompany his mother by train to Albuquerque, New Mexico?a place he has never been to live with relatives he has never met. To help with expenses, Walter gets a paper route. But the situation gets worse. His mother is admitted to a tuberculosis sanatorium and needs expensive surgery. Walter wrecks his cousin’ s bicycle, and they get into a fistfight. What else could go wrong? Walter has a chance encounter with the gangster, Al “ Scarface” Capone. Walter reluctantly becomes his errand boy. When Walter learns Capone plans to pay for his mother’ s surgery, he faces a difficult decision. Should he accept Capone’ s help if his family will be indebted to a gangster?

Wilmettie is the story of one family's covered-wagon journey from West Texas to New Mexico Territory in the early 1900s. When Wilmettie's stepfather decides to follow his dream and claim a homestead of his own, Wilmettie's younger brothers are excited about the journey. But twelve-year-old Wilmettie is reluctant to leave her familiar surroundings and the grandmother she loves. The book takes readers along for her family's adventures on their way to what will become their new homestead: covered wagon trains are formed, rattlesnakes are encountered, rivers are forded, and banks are robbed. Along the way, young Wilmettie meets new friends from places and cultures unlike her own as her family makes the perilous journey to claim their homestead land. But will it end up being a true home to Wilmettie?