Bandit Moon by Sid Fleischman

I don't even remember how we got started reading Sid Fleischman books.  This one we particularly enjoyed.  Based somewhat on the true story of Joaquin Murieta, it is the fun story of a girl who is rescued from a mean woman by a bandit from Mexico.  She is upset and thinks that bandits are bad people, and her father was killed in the war with Mexico, and that she needs to escape and turn them in.  However, she feels she owes them something for saving her from the bad situation she is in, so she agrees to stay until she teaches the bandit to read.  After a series of mishaps and adventures, she is reunited with her brother.  A look into the gold rush and discrimination caused by it, and a view that there are good people on both sides of the racial divide.