The Wild West
Howdy, partners! Saddle up your horses, cowboys and cowgirls, put on your hats and boots, and get ready to take a journey into the Wild Wild West. As we take our journey, what will we find there? Pick up these books and find out….
WAY WEST by Roy Gerrard
The true story of Amelia Knight, her husband, and her seven children as they travel by wagon train from Iowa to Oregon in the spring and summer of 1853. The family endures rain, dust, sickness, gnats, and the loss of animals, but Native Americans are helpful. When the Knights reach Oregon Territory at last, they have a new home and a new baby. For grades 2-4.
RC 40035
FOLKS CALL ME APPLESEED JOHN by Andrew Glass
Fictionalized account of John Chapman, a young man from Massachusetts, who planted and sold trees to settlers in the wilderness. In this story, John has sent for his younger half-brother, Nathaniel, to help him with his work. Nathaniel doesn't take to the rugged outdoor life as well as John does. An overview of John's life follows the story. For grades 2-4.
RC 42557
TRAIN TO SOMEWHERE by Eve Bunting
In 1878, Marianne is one of fourteen orphans from New York City being taken out west by train to find families to adopt them. Marianne is older than many of the children and she knows she is not pretty, but she isn't worried. Her mother left her at the orphanage and went west herself a few years ago, and Marianne expects to find her in one of these towns. For grades 2-4.
RC 42580
CALEB’S STORY by Patricia MacLachlan
Caleb's discovery of an old man in the barn becomes a family problem. Although Caleb, his sister Cassie, and Sarah welcome him as a long-lost grandfather, Jacob remembers the pain of the past. For grades 3-6.
RC 53941 / BR 14100
WEST BY COVERED WAGON by Dorothy H. Patent
Each year on Memorial Day weekend, a group of people in western Montana takes a wagon-train journey to recapture the spirit of the covered-wagon caravans of the 1800s. The author compares the modern-day journeys with those endured by the earlier travelers. For grades 3-6.
RC 42951
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Ingalls family moves westward from Wisconsin in a covered wagon and builds a cabin on the Kansas prairie, only to discover they are located in Indian territory. For grades 4-7.
RC 50922 / BR 10510
COWBOYS ON THE WESTERN TRAIL by Eric F. Oatman
Teenagers Josh, who is black, and Davy, who is white, help on a cattle drive in 1877. The boys keep journals and send letters about their dangerous experiences along the way. For grades 4-7 and older readers.
BR 15471
JOURNAL OF DOUGLAS ALLEN DEEDS by Rodman Philbrick
In this fictionalized chronicle, fifteen-year-old orphan Douglas Deeds keeps a journal of his wagon train journey with the ill-fated Donner party. The settlers become stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846-1847 and resort to cannibalism to survive. For grades 4-7.
RC 59447
ACROSS THE WIDE & LONESOME PRAIRIE by Kristina Gregory
In 1847, Hattie is given a diary for her thirteenth birthday. When her family takes a March-to-October journey from Missouri to Oregon, she keeps an account of the dangerous and tedious trip — its hardships and deaths, as well as the joyful events that affect the group. An epilogue follows the lives of fellow travelers up to 1906. For grades 4-7.
RC 47406
RODZINA by Karen Cushman
A large, stubborn, twelve-year-old girl boards a train full of other orphans heading west. Helping the woman doctor in charge, Rodzina sees some good and some bad placements of the children. By the time they reach California, Rodzina has her own plan for a new family. For grades 5-8.
RC 56681
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