Journey to Nowhere
Auch, Mary Jane
Henry Holt, 1997
J AUC
In 1815, while traveling by covered wagon to settle in the wilderness of western New York, eleven-year-old Mem experiences a flood and separation from her family.
Prairie School
Avi
HarperCollins, 2001
J AVI
In 1880, Noah’s aunt teaches the reluctant nine-year-old how to read as they explore the Colorado prairie together, Noah pushing Aunt Dora in her wheelchair.
Caddie Woodlawn
Brink, Carol Ryrie
Macmillan, 1973
J BRI
The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.
The Misadventures of Maude March, or, Trouble Rides a Fast Horse
Couloumbis, Audrey
Random House, 2005
J COU
After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, eleven-year-old Sallie and her fifteen-year-old sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an advernture resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read.
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Cushman, Karen
Clarion Books, 1996
J CUS
In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.
Old Yeller
Gipson, Fred
Harper, 1956
J GIP
About a Texas pioneer family in the 1860s and the big yellow stray dog that affects their lives.
Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild: California Terriotry, 1849
Gregory, Kristiana
Scholastic, 2001
J GRE
A diary account of fourteen-year-old Susanna Fairchild’s life in 1849, when her father succumbs to gold fever on the way to establish his medical practice in Oregon after losing his wife and money on their steamship journey from New York.
Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Diary of Hattie Campbell. Dear America
Gregory, Kristiana
Scholastic, 1997
J GRE
In her diary, thirteen-year-old Hattie chronicles her family’s arduous 1847 journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. In a diary format, this novel chronicles the hardships that pioneers endured druing a trip west on the Oregon Trail.
Only Our May Amelia
Holm, Jennifer L.
HarperCollins, 1999
J HOL
As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899.
Worth
LaFaye, A.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004
J LAF
After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate feels even worse.
The School at Crooked Creek
Lawlor, Laurie
Holiday House, 2004
J LAW
Living on the nineteenth-century Indiana frontier with his parents and irritable older sister, Louise, six-year-old Beansie dreads his first day of school, but his resilience surprises even his sister.
The Journal of Jedediah Barstow, an Emigrant on the Oregon Trail: Overland, 1845. My Name is America
Levine, Ellen
Scholastic, 2002
J LEV
In his 1845 diary, thirteen-year-old orphan Jedediah describes his wagon train journey to Oregon, in which he confronts rivers and sandy plains, bears and rattlesnakes, and the challenges of living with his fellow travelers.
In the Land of the Big Red Apple
MacBride, Roger Lea
HarperCollins, 1995
J MAC
A year after moving to their farm in the Ozarks, Laura and Almanzo Wilder and their young daughter, Rose, have settled into their new home with a successful vegetable harvest and the beginnings of an apple orchard.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
MacLachlan, Patricia
Harper & Row, 1985
J MAC
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay. Winner of the 1985 Newberry Medal.
As Far As I Can See. My America, Meg’s Prairie Diary 1
McMullan, Kate
Scholastic, 2002
J MCM
In her diary for 1856, nine-year-old Meg describes the long, dangerous journey she and her younger brother make from Missouri to Kansas, as well as the new life they find there.
Nothing Here But Stones
Oswald, Nancy
Henry Holt, 2004
J OSW
In 1882, ten-year-old Emma and her family, along with other Russian Jewish immigrants, arrive in Cotopaxi, Colorado, where they face inhospitable conditions as they attempt to start an agricultural colony, and lonely Emma is comforted by the horse whose life she saved.
Mr. Tucket
Paulsen, Gary
Bantam Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1994
J PAU
In 1948, while on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped by Pawnee Indians and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.
Night of the Full Moon
Whelan, Gloria
Random House, 1993
J WHE
When she sneaks away to visit her friend, a young girl living on the Michigan frontier is caught up in the forced evacuation of a group of Potawatomi Indians from their tribal lands in the 1840s.
On Top of Concord Hill. Little House. The Caroline Years
Wilkes, Maria D.
HarperCollins, 2000
J WIL
After moving with their widowed mother to the home in the woods near Concord, Wisconsin, nine-year-old Caroline Quiner, who grows up to become the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and her brothers and sisters try to adjust to their new neighborhood and new stepfather.
Black Storm Comin’
Wilson, Diane L.
Margaret K. McElderry, 2005
J WIL
Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.
