The Great Wheel, by Robert Lawson

For those of you following the tags, this one isn't technically about pioneers; it's more about immigrants. But it was the closest tag, so hey!

The Great Wheel follows young Conn (short for Cornelius) from Ireland to the United States in search of his future, and the resolution of his aunt Honora's prophecy for him, read from leaves in the bottom of a tea cup: "Your fortune lies to the west. Keep your face to the sunset and follow the evening star, and one day you'll ride the greatest wheel in all the world." He initially works for his uncle in New York, who owns a contracting company. But he decides digging ditches and laying piping, and accounting work in the office, aren't for him. At 17, when he has the opportunity, he decides to join his other uncle, Patrick, in Chicago. He's working on an amazing piece of machinery that will become the showpiece of the world's fair: the first ever Ferris wheel. And at two-hundred-fifty feet in height, other engineers are claiming that it simply can't be done. But Patrick has faith in Ferris, the designer, and Conn has faith in uncle Patrick.

And so we follow Conn and his companions in the months leading up to the Ferris wheel's opening, as they build the tremendous wheel from the ground up. But always in the background is the question of what will become of Conn once his work is finished: does he even want to continue working in construction? And if not, what will his future be?

This was a straightforward and pleasant read that I was able to knock out in an afternoon.

Davy Crockett, by Constance Rourke

I don't have too much to say about this book.  It covers what is known of Davy Crockett's life, from his birth through his death at the Alamo, and all of his journeys in between.  It is peppered throughout with a number of legends about his feats, and often gives probable explanations for their sources.

I found it a pretty dry read and a struggle to get through, but the detailed illustrations were very well done.

New Land, by Sarah Schmidt

I'll admit that it's nice to be able to fill in a gap in my list.  This one had been unavailable through the local library system and on a whim I decided to search online.  I found fulltext with illustrations, hooray!  A decision was made that the "pioneers" tag should also apply to homesteading for brevity, so this book will have no covered wagons in it for you!

New Land actually takes place in roughly the 1920's.  The Morgan family (seventeen-year-old twins Charles and Sayre, younger sister Hitty, and their father) are migrating from Chicago to greener pastures in Wisconsin.  Their father is the restless type who has never been able to stay in one place for long without becoming discontented, so the family has been unsettled for a long time, and especially since the death of his wife three years prior from pneumonia.  A coworker had tried homesteading and had failed at it, and offered the land and buildings to the Morgan family to try to settle themselves on.  Sayre is truly hoping that this will finally be their long-term home.  The book is told from her perspective.

Upon arriving in Upton, Wyoming, the family settles into the little house and gets to know the town.  Since the area is already settled and somewhat established, there is a town center with store (run by Mr. Hoskins, the town's most prominent citizen), a high school, and a small community.  But when Mr. Morgan goes to the land office to register his claim, he learns that he is simply not qualified to file.  He has no farming experience and no equipment, and because so many farmers had failed in this particular area, the government had become more selective.  Sympathetically, the land agent tells them that they can certainly remain where they are, but they will have no legal claim on the land they farm.

It's at this time that Sayre develops a plan.  She's fallen in love with this new land and won't leave willingly.  She goes to the local teacher and meets the agriculture instructor there.  Although he's surprised that a girl wants to register for his classes, he agrees to seek permission from the board on her behalf.  As Mr. Kitchell is also the football coach, she hopes that he will be able to use that influence on her football-loving brother to encourage him into the class as well.  Sayre hopes that they can, between them, learn enough about farming to keep their family in its place.

Although Sayre is decisive and optimistic, not everyone is rooting for their success.  The Morgans quickly discover that Upton has a lot of small-town politics, and that those who are ahead wish to remain there, on the backs of their neighbors.  Additionally, the man who originally leased his claim to them returns to "visit," and Sayre quickly intuits that he has misled them, intending to lay claim to their hard work on the land to "prove up" the claim for himself.

There are a lot of factors working against the Morgans, and they are all well-developed (as are the characters).  I especially enjoyed reading this one; the Little House series primed me to enjoy a good homesteading success story, and this one is exceptionally well-written.  I won't spoil the resolution here, you can rest assured in the fact that the final chapter is entitled "The Happy Ending."

Moccasin Trail, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

The book begins with our protagonist Jim Keath checking his traps and lamenting the state of trapping this season.  Jim is a wanderer, traveling only with his horse and dog, and occasionally a friend.  Over time his history is revealed to the reader: as a child he fled his strict upbringing to follow his uncle, also a trapper, into the forests.  But during a fight with a bear, he was gravely injured.  When he woke, he was in a teepee being cared for by an Indian woman.  She had lost a son and, since she was able to restore him to health, claimed Jim as her own.  He learned the language and culture and lived among the Crow Indians for six years before striking out on his own, not feeling like he truly belonged with them or with white men.

While Jim is tracking animals, he's also being tracked down by two Indians.  A paper letter has been making its way from hand to hand trying to reach him, and it had finally arrived.  Neither Jim nor his companion can read well enough to interpret it.  All he knows is that it may have come from his (biological) brother.  So he heads to the nearest fort to find some one who can read the letter for him, a trip that takes more than a week.

When Jim reaches The Dalles, he learns that his parents have died and his siblings, all youth, are on their own heading to Oregon to homestead.  But they need his help: the oldest, Johnnie, can't make a land claim because he isn't yet 18.  Jim is their last hope to establish a home, even if he only signs the paperwork before leaving again.  And coincidentally, the family is at the fort now.  Jim feels the pull of them, even though they haven't seen each other in ages.  He agrees to travel with them, but chafes under their rules and expectations.  His sister, Sally, doesn't care for his braids and medicine bundle.  Johnnie gets angry when he teaches the youngest, Dan'l, the ways of the woods instead of helping.  And once they complete the journey and find land in the Willamette Valley, it seems that everyone is angry with him: he's not a farmer or a carpenter.  He doesn't understand the need to plow and sow when the land is rich with game and natural crops.  He doesn't like feeling confined in a cabin when his teepee goes up much more quickly, is more snug, and is portable.  This lifestyle doesn't suit his inclinations, but he realizes that he has become lonely for his family and desperately wants Johnnie's approval.

This was a really well-written book that did a fantastic job of developing the main characters.  The reader really comes to sympathize with Jim's inner struggles and to hope he finds his place in the world.  I was admittedly disappointed in the ending (Jim settles down and goes "full white"), but it may seem a far more fitting conclusion to others.

Better Known as Johnny Appleseed, by Mabel Leigh Hunt

Yet another historical figure I knew little to nothing about!  I'm going to admit my ignorance.  Here's what I thought I knew about Johnny Appleseed: I envisioned him as a stereotypical Appalachian man- worn pants with a frayed rope belt, bare feet, straw hat, walking around the country tossing apple seeds as he went.  Thanks, children's picture books, for making that kind of impression on me.  I'd also assumed he was a folk tale character, not an actual human being.  Color me corrected.

Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman) was, to be fair, shoddily dressed in his adult years.  He took only what he needed, and when given more he would cheerfully give it to some one else.  He wore no shoes, and traveled everywhere by foot.  Johnny made numerous friends on his travels, largely in Ohio and Indiana.  He collected seeds whenever possible, and kept them (with saplings) in the bag he always carried with him.

Johnny's dream was to create orchards of apples in territory yet to be settled, so that new homesteaders would have food waiting for them.  He would often sow orchards on occupied land for the owners as well, with a portion set aside for people he would send to collect trees later.  If people were willing to pay for the trees, he would accept the money and put most of it toward publishing tracts and literature about the Swedenborgians, a small Christian sect that he wholeheartedly followed.

I was glad to have had the opportunity to have my history corrected with regard to this fascinating figure.

Tree of Freedom, by Rebecca Caudill

This cover.  Oh, this cover.  It sent me into the book with so much confusion.  Firstly, the summary on the back of the jacket tells me that Stephanie and her family are moving from Kentucky to Carolina when the reverse is actually true.  Then the jacket illustration (to left) shows an oddly-proportioned Stephanie gently fingering the titular tree with a strange expression on her face, as if the tree has told her something but she's not quite sure she heard it right.  And in the back, a dark, brooding, black-haired boy gazing her way.  Perhaps a mysterious Indian, full of longing for our fair Stephanie?  Nope, just one of her sulky brothers (although which sulky brother he is remains unclear).  All of this goes to prove that you really can't judge a book by its cover because, once my mind switched gears and caught on that the family was moving from Carolina to Kentucky, I really liked it.

The book takes place in 1780.  The rich land of Kentucky is open for claims, and Stephanie's father has reserved his piece by planting corn two years prior.  It's time for the Venable family to move and settle it.  The family consists of thirteen-year-old Stephanie (our protagonist), her parents, her older brother, her two younger brothers, and younger sister.  Her mother comes from a French family of high regard, and can even read (although only the French in the family's Huguenot Bible).  Stephanie's father, on the other hand, is a simple and practical sort who has no patience for anything beyond the basics (including education for his children, who cannot read at all), and requires them to pack sparingly, leaving even treasured heirlooms behind in Carolina.

When the family finally arrives and has their claim surveyed, they have a lot of work ahead of them.  They need to clear trees, plant crops for food, and build shelter.  Their claim won't be official until December, giving the courts time to hear any competing claimants, but they need to invest everything they have into the land.  Additionally, the Revolution has reached even Kentucky, with British claims in competition with Virginia-issued ones, and no one knowing which will have precedence until the independence movement is either quashed or successful.

This was a surprisingly engaging book about creating a new home from nothing during very tumultuous times.  It would have appeal for anyone with a fondness for the Little House books.

Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski

My earliest memory of this book is from my early High School years.  It was below reading level, obviously, but I was still a fan of those Dell Yearling paperbacks and this one somehow found its way onto my bookshelf.  I had no idea until now that it was so old; I just knew that it read strangely.  But the book was intentionally written in a backwoods Florida dialect common for the time when the story took place.  Lois Lenski apparently did some pretty extensive research preparing to write this book, relying especially on WPA oral histories.  Many of the events from the book are based on them.

Our book's protagonist is Birdie Boyer, a young girl who has just relocated from the Carolinas to the backwoods of Florida with her family.  They have plans to farm the land successfully, having inherited an orange grove from the prior owners.  They also want to raise cattle and farm strawberries, which grow well in the Florida soil and bring in a nice profit.  However, things are made difficult from the beginning by inhospitable neighbors.  The Slaters have been living on the adjacent property for generations.  They believe that their animals are entitled to free passage through the woods, regardless of whose property they cross.  The Boyers soon have to contend with starving livestock let loose in the woods, stripping down their orange trees, wallowing in their strawberry fields, and digging under their fences (when the Slaters don't take it upon themselves to cut through the fences to escort their cows to the river, rather than going around).

Over time, things escalate between the two families.  Eventually, Mr. Boyer cuts the ears off of the Slater hogs he finds on his property as a warning.  The next time, he kills them and leaves them on the Slaters' porch.  The Slater men (and boys) set a fire in the woods and try to burn the Boyers out as retaliation, not realizing that some of their own children are playing in those very woods (and fortunately, emerge unharmed).  But eventually Mrs. Slater becomes slightly more friendly and sympathetic to the Boyers, although she's not able to make any overt gestures that her husband might hear about.

I won't spoil the ending, but I remember that even in High School I found it just a little too pat.  Did Ms. Lenski run out of conflict-resolution ideas?  Or is this something that really happened according to her research?  I'd love to have the answer to this one.

By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Also known as, "The Ingalls Family Finally Catches a Break."  Although you wouldn't know it from the beginning of the book.  It starts off with the Ingalls family utterly exhausted and weak- they're barely recovering from a bout of Scarlet Fever, which left Mary blind.  The family had barely managed to remain solvent until they were struck with illness, and now they have no idea how the doctor will be paid.  But up the road comes good news- Aunt Docia, whom they haven't seen since they lived in Wisconsin in Little House in the Big Woods times.  She and Uncle Hi are headed to Dakota Territory to work in the railroad camps, and are offering Pa a salary of $50/month to come and be their bookkeeper/storekeeper.

Since farming on Plum Creek has been more or less a failure for several years, Pa sells the house and ties up loose ends.  And so the family heads west once again!  Laura has a great time getting to know her cousin Lena, who teaches her how to ride (and race!) horses.  And once the camp has disbanded for the winter, the Ingallses are offered the use of the Surveyor's house.  It's been fully stocked with provisions, and this means the family wouldn't have to backtrack eastward before coming back to make a claim in the Spring.

Once Spring arrives, the settlers come, too.  Before they know it, their house is full of boarders, since it's the only suitable shelter around and the next best thing to a hotel.  Pa is out registering at the claim office, and Mr. and Mrs. Boast are able to help a bit, but otherwise, the women are on their own until the town suddenly springs up and the Surveyor's house is empty once again.  Soon it's time to move out to Pa's tiny claim shanty, and begin their new life as homesteaders!

This book leaves me feeling a lot more optimistic about the future of this little family.  Although it's tricky; Pa's main plan is usually farming, and farming is always a mixed bag.  I hope I'm not being a spoiler when I mention here that later in the series, Laura states her strong conviction that she will never marry a farmer and spend her life in that kind of instability again, and I don't blame her in the least. 

On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This book was my favorite in the series for a very long time.  Probably in part because it was the only book in the Little House series that I actually owned for quite a while, but also because I loved when snotty Nellie Oleson got her comeuppance, covered with leeches!

On the Banks of Plum Creek follows the Ingalls family as they settle along the aforementioned creek, first in a dugout purchased from a Norwegian homesteader, and later in a beautiful home built of boards (which Pa had purchased on credit against the following year's crop of wheat).  The surroundings are beautiful, the family is able to have access to town, church, and school, and the land is rich.  Things are looking good for the Ingallses!

Unfortunately, reading this book through an adult's eyes makes me so much sadder.  Before long, the promising wheat crop is destroyed by what could be described as no less than a plague of grasshoppers, which descend on the countryside and devour it until no living plants are left.  Laura has to give up her beloved rag doll, Charlotte, to a neighbor's bratty child (but is fortunately able to retrieve it later).  I feel sad for the family and wish Pa could catch a bit of luck so they could stay stable for a bit, and he wouldn't feel compelled to buy their necessities on credit, which usually doesn't work out well for him because something always happens to his crops (which certainly explains why Laura, later in the series, is determined not to marry a farmer).  Other things that happen during this time period but are not portrayed in the story are moves to Wisconsin (to the Big Woods!) from Kansas before settling on Plum Creek, as well as the birth and death of Laura's younger brother, Charles.  And between this book and the sequel, On the Shores of Silver Lake, the family is struck with scarlet fever, causing Mary to permanently lose her sight.  Pioneer life was hard!  It's amazing that with so much sorrow, there is also so much happiness in these books, and you can't help but falling in love with the family.  The hope they have is absolutely incredible.

The Jumping-Off Place, by Marian Hurd McNeely

I know exactly which kids at the Library I should recommend this book to! Imagine The Boxcar Children meets Little House on the Prairie, and you've got this book. Becky and her three younger siblings, Dick, Joan and Phil, have been raised by their Uncle Jim. He had staked a claim in the newly opened Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, but became ill and died afterward. With no other hope for a future, Becky and crew decide to "prove up" his claim as he had originally intended for all of them to do together.

Uncle Jim had set up the homestead and prepared canned goods for them, but when the children arrive they find that their windows have been smashed and their pump removed. After they settle in with the help of a kind neighbor from town, they go to draw water from the creek. This is where they meet two sons from the Welp family, and learn that in their absence another family has put up a shanty within their boundaries and is attempting to claim it for themselves. Additionally, summer drought puts their plants at risk.

What really sets this book apart from the Little House books is the slightly more mature perspective- coming from a town with a large social network, the four children know exactly what it is that they've left behind, and discover that there's a great deal to miss. "That's the one thing I don't like about Dakota," laments Phil. "There's never any folks for audiences."

Also, as four children having to survive alone, when tragedy strikes, they feel it deeply. There's no optimistic belief that Pa will somehow fix it. If they don't fix it themselves, it may just not get fixed.

The book is based on the experiences of the author homesteading with her husband in South Dakota, although in a slightly later time period than the Ingalls family. This book was also published quite a bit in advance of Laura's fictionalized memoirs, for those concerned about copycatting. The Jumping-Off Place was actually just republished in 2008 as a paperback with the original illustrations, and I'm glad a new generation will have access to it after such a long absence. The republished edition also contains an afterword by Jean L. S. Patrick explaining the context of the story and a bit about the author, which is a great addition (unlike the highly unnecessary "word list"- a glossary of the more challenging words tacked on at the end. No one looks for these anymore). I wish I could give this book more tags to increase its visibility!

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This is perhaps the least fictional of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, her family's story of the winter of 1880-1881, which really did consist of blizzard after blizzard and which really did strand the town of DeSmet, South Dakota to fend for itself for seven months when the trains couldn't make it through the cuts that filled with snow. Two men from town braved the elements to find a claim on the prairie about 12 miles from town (in the book it's 20) where a farmer is rumored to have some seed wheat on hand, and bring it back for the town to eat for the rest of the winter - a trip that truly risked their lives, but was ultimately successful. The Ingalls family ground the wheat for their daily bread with a coffee grinder, what became a constant and tedious chore. There being no more fuel in town, they twisted hay into sticks to burn. And all the while, one blizzard after another howled outside, isolating the family even within the isolated town on the prairie.

One of my favorite scenes in this book is near the beginning, before the winter sets in. Laura is out helping Pa with haying, and they walk together to look at a muskrat house. They discuss the thickness of the walls, and how it foretells a cold winter, and Laura asks how they know. Pa tells her that he's not sure, but God must tell them. When she asks why God doesn't tell people, the ensuing discussion of what free will means is one of the clearest I've ever seen.

I have read this book, if I had to guess, literally dozens of times over the years. My sister and I would read it out loud to each other, taking turns chapter by chapter, in two situations. One, when it was very hot out (we were in Maine in the late 1980s and early 90s, when air conditioning was not at all common), and two, when it was very cold out (we not only lived in Maine, but in an old farmhouse primarily heated by wood). The descriptions in the book, of how very cold everyone was, and how resilient, were real enough to cool us down on a hot summer day, or make us feel like we were lucky to have as warm a house as we had when the wind and snow blew outside. For reference, the other book we used for the same purposes was "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett; Sara's trials in her attic were sufficient for a summer or winter day also, and both books make you feel like your chores are probably not too bad! But I digress.

As an adult, I can do a lot more reading between the lines of The Long Winter. This was written by someone who remembered very distinctly what it was like to be hungry and cold for six whole months, and the desperate hope for the train, and what it felt like when that hope was dashed, over and over, by new blizzards.

As far as political correctness goes, there's not a lot to object to in this particular book, except for a couple of Indian references near the beginning. We hear about how "Ma hated Indians" and there is a description of Pa being at the store when an old Indian comes to warn the townspeople about the upcoming winter. The dialog in the store scene is right out of a cheap Western movie - "Heap big snow come. I tellum you." Laura was a product of her time, and I like to think she'd have dealt more reasonably with Indians if she were writing today (especially since the Indian's visit in this book is one of the few fictional elements she introduced!). But the scene is probably worth discussing. Aside from that, there's also the false wisdom of rubbing snow on cold noses and ears to prevent frostbite; historically accurate, but not recommended!

Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink

I did love this book during my tween years, and now rereading it as an adult, all I can think of is how very much like the Little House books it is. But this story takes place at least 15 years before Laura Ingalls Wilder's birth. And interestingly enough, I counted at least two stories in this book that I also remember having read in the Little House series. I think perhaps they simply became Wisconsin urban legend. I did my google maps homework and found that Laura was born less than 40 miles from where this book takes place, which explains the common themes- Caddie Woodlawn is based on the true story of the author's grandmother.

Caddie takes place during the Civil War. Caddie's father, who runs the local mill, is affluent enough that he was able to pay to have a man sent in his place. The family also has hired men living full-time on the property. Caddie is the middle child of five. There used to be six, however, when the family moved west from Boston the youngest girl, Mary, was ill and died. Because Caddie was weak and sickly also, Mr. Woodlawn convinced his wife to allow her to run wild with the boys to regain her health, convinced that she would take up more feminine behavior when she became ready.

In addition to their own small family, the Woodlawns are on very good terms with the Indians that live locally, especially Indian John (who has the advantage of command of the English language, although it's unfortunately depicted as the stereotypical pidgin English common in books from this period). The book follows a year in Caddie's life- picking nuts, riding horses, going to school, and worrying about rumors of Indian massacre, eagerly awaiting the mail after a long winter, and eating entirely too much turkey. Over the course of events, Caddie does mature and become ready to at least consider that a lady's skills have some merit.

Also impressive for the time the book was written in is the way the Woodlawn family is scornful of a man in the community who had taken an Indian wife in the days when the town was not yet settled. Not because he took an Indian wife, but because he is clearly ashamed of her and their three children, and because he sends his wife away to rejoin her people when rumors of massacre have made her uncomfortable to keep. Stereotypes notwithstanding, it's a perspective that you don't often see represented. As their mother tells the Woodlawn children, "Sam Hankinson hasn't a very strong character. Now if your father had married an Indian. . . you may be sure that he would never have sent her off because he was ashamed of her."

I did love my paperback copy of this book with Trina Schart Hyman illustrations; they have so much more character than the airbrushed bland ones that are in the 1958 edition I borrowed from my library this week (see right). Who makes a better-looking tomboy, I ask you?

The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dalgliesh

The Courage of Sarah Noble is the author's re-imagining of the true story of Sarah Noble, who traveled alone with her father to the then-new settlement of New Milford, Connecticut, from Westfield, Massachusetts, to cook for him on the journey. While her father builds a house for the family, Sarah makes friends with the Indian children who come to visit her campsite. And when her father goes back to Massachusetts to bring the rest of the family, Sarah stays with the Indians in their nearby village.

Before I go any further, I should say that I first read this book in second grade and loved it. Loved. It. Many of my "creative writing" pieces through about fourth grade were loosely based on this story. It had, however, been about 20 years since I'd picked it up, and it was like seeing an old friend after a long time finding it in the library again.

The book is written from Sarah's point of view, and you see how being on the frontier is scary to an eight-year-old. There are wolves, and Indians who may not be friendly, and she is worried about her baby sister back home, who was not strong when she left. Her mantra throughout the story is "Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble". I know from experience that the "keep up your courage" message is one that stays with the child reader - I remember several occasions where I was scared, took a deep breath, and thought of Sarah.

When I read it as a 2nd-grader, I was impressed by Sarah's ability to actually keep house for her father on their journey (she was not today's typical 8-year-old!), and fascinated by her experience of living with Indians and essentially getting to be an Indian child for a few weeks.

As an adult, I am intrigued by the truth behind the story. Sarah Noble was a real woman, and according to one of her sisters' testimony, she did travel with her father and stay with an Indian family when she was eight years old. Her father was actually acting as a guide to a Dutch fur-trading post in Albany, not bringing the rest of the family - Sarah had a 22-year-old brother who was also settling in New Milford, so it is likely that he would have brought everyone when he came. Sarah's fears in the book are very real as well - her grandfather had been killed by Indians twenty years earlier in King Philip's War, infant mortality was of course a very real concern, and Connecticut was brand new frontier territory at the time (the story takes place around 1707). Sarah did well, though; we know that she became New Milford's first schoolteacher, married, and had ten children, nine of whom lived past early childhood. There is no record of her death, but we do know that she was widowed - she probably lived her last years with one of her children and their family. My source for all of this is here.

The illustrations by Leonard Weisgard are perfectly suited to the story - if you can, read the edition with his work on the cover as well as inside (pictured above). The book is written for a young audience, and with that in mind, I give it a 9. It makes an impression.

As it happens, Sarah's birthday was March 22, 1699 - happy 311th birthday, Sarah!