“Andy” and “Sammy” realize they must adjust their façade to ensure they will not be revealed to their companions. At one of their stops, a midwife sees through their disguise and shows solidarity among women by providing them with necessary sanitation materials. For example, she addresses the struggles and challenges of gender roles in scenes where the girls are forced to adapt to the “Old West.” They have to straddle the horse instead of sitting side-saddle and they struggle to care for their feminine hygiene while undercover. In her story, Lee engages both the past and the present by updating a familiar genre – the Western – with a modern perspective inspired by the need for diverse books. They work together to protect each other at all costs on their journey. Along the way, they encounter and befriend three boys, whom they begin to view as their family. The women disguise themselves as men and learn the true meaning of survival in the dangerous West. Samantha is wanted as a murderer and Annamae is a runaway slave. In Stacey Lee’s young adult novel "Under a Painted Sky," two fugitives from the law travel west on a journey to find freedom from their pasts.
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