My topic was The Wild West and Prairie Life. I chose this topic because it is something that has plenty of text material and many different aspects to it. The topic of the Wild West intrigues students as they think of cowboys and Indians, and these books will say that there was more to Prairie life than that. I also am passionate about this topic as I grew up loving the Little House on the Prairie books and I feel we have a lot to learn from that time period.
1. A Family Apart: A family of six travels by orphan train to the West and try hard to stay together. This book does a good job of explaining the motions that the orphan train riders felt when coming out West.
2. Little House on the Prairie: A young girl named Laura travels out West with her family by wagon to find a place for their new home. This book is a prairie life classic, and one cannot have a text set about prairie times without it! It gives a good idea of what prairie times would be like for a young child.
3. Hattie Big Sky: A girl named Hattie heads to Montana to prove-up on her dead uncle’s land in order to keep it. Hattie experiences many of the trials that others would experience when headed to the Wild West. This book relates directly to the topic in that regard.
4. Sarah, Plain and Tall: A father of two places an advertisement for a mail-order bride. He receives Sarah, a woman from Maine. The two children warm up to her and hope that she will stay. This book highlights another way people made their way out west: through mail-order brides.
5. May B: A twelve-year-old girl, named Mavis Betterly, is forced to go work for people that are 15 miles away from her home to help pay her parents’ expenses. When the wife of the people she works for, runs away and the husband takes off after her, and suddenly May B is all on her own. This book helps reiterate how risky living in the West was, especially for a 12 year-old.
6. Caddie Woodlawn: One of six children, Caddie is a tomboy and goes on many adventures in the Wisconsin frontier in the 1800’s. Her dealings with the Native Americans will ultimately prevent what would have been a terrible tragedy. This book shows a different perspective and will be a nice transition into talking about the Native Americans in my lesson.
7. Birchbark House: This book chronicles the tale of an Ojibwa girl named Omakayas. The book follows her story through four seasons and the trials and tribulations of her Native American life. This book is a contrast to the rest of the books on this list and helps convey the opposite perspective of the white settlers.
8. Our Only May Amelia: May Amelia is a tomboy living in Washington state in the late 1800’s. This book chronicles her adventures as well as the harsh realities of prairie life. The text set includes this book because it shows another example of the harsh realities of prairie life.
9. One Came Home: This mysterious tale of a disappearance of a sister, and the search Georgie goes on to fine her. Everyone thinks she’s dead because the sheriff brought an unidentifiable body, and everybody believes it is the missing sister, Georgie is not convinced. This is a great book to draw the students in. The book takes place on the Wisconsin frontier, and it is suspenseful enough to keep the students wanting more.
10. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple: Forced to move from Massachusetts to the Gold Rush in California, California Morning Whipple renames herself Lucy and is bitter towards her mother for forcing her to move out there. Over the six-year period in which the book takes place, Lucy matures and ultimately decides to stay in California when the rest of the family moves back east. This emphasizes the theme of home on the prairie. Lucy eventually realizes home is where you make it, and that is a common theme on the prairie.
Each book includes a different aspect of the prairie life and how people ended up in the Wild West. A Family Apart chronicles the orphan trains that took children out west. Little House on the Prairie displays the life of a wagon traveler, yet another way people made their way to the frontier. Hattie Big Sky shows the strength and determination it took to succeed on the prairie. Sarah, Plain and Tall tells a tale of another way people found themselves moving out West, mail-order brides and their trials and tribulations. Caddie Woodlawn provides a different perspective, instead of having the white settlers always living in fear of the Native Americans, Caddie is able to work peacefully with them. Birchbark House provides a completely opposite perspective, that of the Native Americans. Told from the perspective of a Native American girl, it gives a different feel for prairie times. Our Only May Amelia shows the harsh realities that faced families on the frontier. One Came Home draws students in with its suspenseful grips, and leaves them wanting to know more about the prairie. Finally, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple helps emphasize the need for a home, but then finding that home is where you make it. A common theme in life on the prairie.
A Family Apart by Joan Lowry Nixon
Published: 1987
Intended Audience: Grade 5-8, Read Aloud
Brief Summary of the Book:
Frances (age 13), the eldest of six children, finds herself on the streets of New York City. Her mother makes the difficult decision to give her six children a second chance and sends them out west on an Orphan Train to Missouri. Frances pretends to be a boy in order to remain with her brother, Petey.
Relationship to My Program:
This book depicts the hardships of those who moved out West on an orphan train. This fits directly with the lessons of the “Wild West” being taught. Frances is a relatable character for older elementary school children as well as middle school students. A Family Apart will reinforce a lesson taught about the orphan trains and their effect on the children of the West. Frances’s adventures are fast-paced and suspenseful. This book will be a great read-aloud as it keeps kids excited to see what happens next.
Impact of the Book:
I hope the tale of six children sent out West will keep the students on the edge of their seats. I want to keep the students engaged and this book will do the trick. I hope students will be talking about this book and will be intrigued enough to continue reading the rest of the series (there are seven books in the series). The students will be eager to see what comes next, and I hope they get that same reaction with other books as well.
Possible Issues with this Book:
Some issues that I can think of for this book is that it deals with a girl pretending to be a boy, as well as slavery. These are the only two issues I could see someone finding quarrel with. Some would disagree with Frances’s decision to dress as a boy. This could bring about the topic of cross-dressing or even transgender/gender-identity issues. Some may have problems with the mention of slavery in the book as for some people that is a touchy subject. If I am approached by someone objecting to this book, I will provide the student a different book to read, possibly with an aide while the rest of the class reads aloud with me.
Support for the Book:
· Publishers Weekly: This first book of the Orphan Train Quartet tells the story of Frances Mary, 13, eldest of the six Kelly children. Life in New York's grim 19th century slums consists of hardship for the poor but honest Kelly clan. When widowed Mrs. Kelly feels that she is no longer capable of providing for her children, she sends them west on the Orphan Train, to be adopted by farm families. Frances masquerades as a boy in order to be adopted with Petey, the brother she promised her mother she would protect. The practical difficulties Frances faces in maintaining this disguise are handled in an amusing and thoughtful manner. Since Frances and Petey are adopted by a couple with strong abolitionist sympathies, it should come as no surprise that Frances, just days after her arrival on the farm, finds herself helping two runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. Though the plot is predictable and sometimes overly sentimental, and the Kelly family lapses into stilted Irish syntax, the rapid succession of high-spirited adventures make for lively reading. Ages 10-up.
· School Library Journal: Grade 5-8 First of a projected quartet of orphan stories, each about a member of the same family of children transported by orphan train from New York to St. Joseph, Missouri, and surrounding areas. A kind of period piece, circa 1860, A Family Apart has a distinct Horatio Alger tone. Well constructed incidents, including the widowed mother giving up her children so they can be sent west to find a better life, a grass fire set by sparks from the train, and a holdup of the train contribute to fast action and considerable suspense particularly about the oldest girl, Frances, who disguises herself as a boy so she can better help her brothers and sisters. An Orphan for Nebraska (Atheneum, 1979) by Charlene Joy Talbot is a similar orphan train story, but about one boy. Patricia Beatty's That's One Ornery Orphan (Morrow, 1980) is more humorous but less of a saga. What happened to orphans and street children of the last century may well appeal to many of today's children who hear so much about street children and abducted and deserted kids.
· Children’s Literature: From the 1860s to the late 1920s orphaned children were rounded up in New York City and sent via train to live with farm families in Missouri and other points West. Nixon's first book in the series, "The Orphan Train Adventures" finds a struggling widowed mother trying to feed and care for six children. When her eldest son is caught stealing for the family his mother makes the choice to send her children West to protect her son from jail and all of them from a miserable life. Her eldest daughter becomes the strength of the family by trying to make sense of why their mother has seemingly abandoned them. What will become of them? Who will be their new families? Will they ever see each other again? The series begins to unfold in this extremely moving and well-paced novel. It provides a rich look into problems immigrant and orphaned children faced during a difficult time in our developing nation. Highly recommended for classroom and libraries.
Alternative Books:
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Published: 1935
Intended Audience: Grade 4-7, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
Laura Ingalls and her family leave their house in the Big Woods in Wisconsin to head by wagon out to Kansas. They set out into the unknown, in search of a spot for their Little House on the Prairie. This book chronicles the adventures of Laura and her family as they settle in the “Wild West” of Kansas.
Relationship to My Program:
Laura’s adventures are perfect to reinforce my lessons about the “Wild West” as this book provides a first-hand account of the trials and adventures that the wagon trains brought. Laura is the perfect age to be relatable for the students. They will identify with her natural curiosity. Using this book I hope to reinforce the idea of the promises of the West and the risks families took attempting to chase their dreams.
Impact of the Book:
I hope the students will love the adventure this book brings. I hope this is a book that sticks with them and makes an imprint. Laura is a fun character and I look forward to sharing that with the students and that they will see that too. The history behind these books is also very interesting and hopefully this book inspires them to look more into the history of Laura’s story. This book is charming and hopefully it will charm the students as well. I also want them to feel enthusiastic enough to continue reading Laura’s books as they have much to offer in terms of quality literature, adventure, and the importance of curiosity.
Potential Issues with this Book:
Someone might see Laura’s experience with the Native Americans as offensive. These people are portrayed as strangers and are written about as harshly. There is one phrase used that usually has some up-in-arms about this book is, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Laura is simply trying to depict the attitudes of the times. If someone were to approach me and object to this book, I would attempt to explain that the author is simply portraying the attitudes of people during the Wild West time period, that the Native Americans were still a feared being back then. If the person still has strong objections to the book, I will provide the student with an alternative book to read.
Support for the Book:
· ALA Notable Children’s Book
· Kirkus Reviews: Sequel to Little House in the Big Woods, and true story of the author's own childhood, and of the days when her father, feeling that civilization was coming too fast to the Big Woods, uprooted his little family and took them, via covered wagon, to Kansas. Good Americana - and a first rate tale. Personally, I liked it certainly as well, perhaps better than the other.
· School Library Journal: Gr 3-6-Laura Ingalls Wilder fans will rejoice at the fine presentation of her novels in audio format. Cherry Jones brings to life Pa, Ma, Laura, and all the other characters. Performed at the right tempo for the intended audience, Jones changes her voice just enough for each character so they can easily be distinguished. Singing period songs as Pa, exclaiming with delight over some new discovery as Laura, or gently scolding as Ma, Jones keeps listeners entranced. Pa's fiddle music, performed by Paul Woodiel, enhances the presentation. As with the print versions, putting the books' content into the context of events which happened over 100 years ago will help intermediate students understand why a song about "darkeys" would be included (Little House in the Big Woods), and why certain attitudes toward minorities, particularly Native Americans, are acceptable to the characters in the books.
Alternative Books:
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Published: 2007
Intended Audience: Grade 7, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
Hattie is left a homestead by her uncle in Montana. The teen takes off from Iowa off to Montana and has to prove up on her uncle’s homestead in order to retain it. She struggles with the weather, herself, and an obnoxious cow. When Hattie meets her neighbors, the Muellers, she begins to feel like her journey to Montana was not meaningless. Throughout the book, Hattie wrestles with what “home” really means.
Relationship to My Program:
This beautifully written book will strongly reinforce my lesson on the “Wild West.” This will bring the story closer to home for the students (if they are Montana students). Hattie sets out with a dream, and she goes headlong in search of that dream. This idea of the hopeful unknown is a great way to reinforce the idea of the new frontier (the West). The hardships Hattie faces help to reiterate the hardships that the frontiersmen faced as they journeyed out West.
Impact of the Book:
I hope this book inspires students, for many reasons. First, I hope it inspires students to chase their dreams and fight for what they believe in. Second, I hope it inspires students to believe in themselves and that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to. And finally, I hope it inspires them to follow their heart. I also hope it encourages the students to read the sequel, as well as students realize the history Montana has.
Potential Issues with the Book:
This book is set in a time period where WWI is running rampant in Europe. This causes much hostility in the attitudes of some characters towards Germans. Some people may feel offended by this portrayal. If I cannot explain the context well enough to this concerned individual, I will supply the student with alternative reading and steer them away from Hattie Big Sky.
Support for the Book:
· Booklist: *Starred Review* In this engaging historical novel set in 1918, 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks leaves Iowa and travels to a Montana homestead inherited from her uncle. In the beautiful but harsh setting, she has less than a year to fence and cultivate the land in order to keep it. Neighbors who welcome Hattie help heal the hurt she has suffered from years of feeling unwanted. Chapters open with short articles that Hattie writes for an Iowa newspaper or her lively letters to a friend and possible beau who is in the military in France. The authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-German bias that endangers her new friends. Larson, whose great-grandmother homesteaded alone in Montana, read dozens of homesteaders' journals and based scenes in the book on real events. Writing in figurative language that draws on nature and domestic detail to infuse her story with the sounds, smells, and sights of the prairie, she creates a richly textured novel full of memorable characters.
· School Library Journal: Larson relates a heartwarming yet poignant story about homesteading in early-20th-century Montana. Until the age of 16, orphan Hattie Brooks lived with whichever relative needed extra household help. Then she receives a letter telling her of an inheritance from her Uncle Chester, whom she had never met. Hattie is to receive his land claim, the house and its contents, one horse, and one cow. When she arrives from Iowa, she learns that she has 10 months to cultivate 40 acres and set 480 rods of fence, or lose the claim. While the story relates the hardships of frontier life and how Hattie “proved up” to the challenge, it also tells of World War I bigotry and discrimination toward German Americans. Hattie’s sense of humor, determination, and optimism come through in her letters to her friend Charlie, who is serving in the military in France, and through letters to her Uncle Holt, which are published in his hometown newspaper. Larson’s vivid descriptions of the harshness of the work and the extreme climates, and the strength that comes from true friendship, create a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered. Hattie’s courage and fortitude are a tribute to them.
· Kirkus Review: What dreams would lead a 16-year-old to leave her safe home in Arlington, Iowa, and take a chance on a homestead claim in Montana? Hattie Brooks, an orphan, is tired of being shuttled between relatives, tired of being Hattie Here-and-There and the feeling of being the “one odd sock behind.” So when Uncle Chester leaves her his Montana homestead claim, she jumps at the chance for independence. It’s 1918, so this is homesteading in the days of Model Ts rather than covered wagons, a time of world war, Spanish influenza and anti-German sentiment turning nasty in small-town America. Hattie’s first-person narrative is a deft mix of her own accounts of managing her claim, letters to and from her friend Charlie, who is off at war, newspaper columns she writes and even a couple of recipes. Based on a bit of Larson’s family history, this is not so much a happily-ever-after story as a next-year-will-be-better tale, with Hattie’s new-found definition of home. This fine offering may well inspire readers to find out more about their own family histories.
Alternative Books:
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Published: 1985
Intended Audience: Grade 1-5, Whole Class Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
Anna’s Mama died giving birth to her brother, and now Anna’s Papa finds caring for both the children and the farm too difficult so he places an ad saying that a wife and mother is needed. Sarah Wheaton from Maine responds to the ad and heads out West to join Anna, her brother Caleb, and their Papa. Sarah soon wins over the children and they want her to stay, but Sarah feels homesick for the sea, brother, and three older aunts.
Relationship to My Program
This book portrays yet another way that people found themselves heading out West, mail-order brides. Mail-order brides were not uncommon out on the prairie. This story, though fictional, has historical relevance. The story explores human emotions such as love and loss. It is a heart-warming story that will get students excited to learn about mail-order brides and what that entailed for Eastern women.
Impact of the Book:
I hope students will find this a heart-warming story, with its trials and tribulations along the way. The emotions that Anna and Caleb experience about Sarah and their Papa are very realistic and applicable to the students today. I also want students to want to read more of the books in the series (Sarah, Plain and Tall is the first of a series of five books). I hope the students will love Sarah, Anna, Caleb, and Papa and their story.
Potential Issues with the Book:
Students may complain about how this story is “boring” at first but towards the middle of the book, they begin to really enjoy this story. Someone may have an issue with how Anna and Caleb’s mother dies giving birth to Caleb, though there is no death scene, it is mentioned. Students whose mothers are pregnant or become pregnant could face some worries from the students that they will die in childbirth. So if someone were to come forward and share their concern about that, I would tell them that it is an issue that the mother has to talk to her child about. I would offer to have a student read alternative books should the objection be that strong.
Support for the Book:
· Winner of the Newbery Medal in 1986
· Kirkus Review: A warming, delicately tuned story set in an unspecified rural American past, about a motherless farm family and the woman who comes from Maine for a trial visit after Papa advertises for a wife. Even before she arrives, Sarah wins Anna and Caleb with her brusque but touching letters. (""Tell them I sing,"" she writes to Papa in answer to their question. We already know that Papa hasn't sung since Mama died, when Caleb was born.) Sarah learns to plow and teaches the others, even Papa, to play. She also talks about the colors of the sea, which she had to leave when her fisherman brother married and his wife took over the house in Maine. Anna and Caleb know that Sarah misses the sea, and they hang on every hint that she might stay. She does, of course, to everyone's satisfaction.
· School Library Journal: Sarah, Plain and Tall is a book that is filled with wisdom, gentle humor, and the practical concerns necessary for a satisfying life. Through a simple sentence or phrase, aspects of each character’s personality—strength, stubbornness, a sense of humor—are brought to light. Refreshingly, this novel portrays children as receptive to the love, nurturing, and attention that a stepparent can offer—and the willingness to return the affection.
· New York Times Review: This is an exquisite, sometimes painfully touching little tale of a lonely, widowed late 19th-century prairie dweller, his two children and the laconic Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, who comes from Maine to share their life. It is the simplest of love stories expressed in the simplest of prose. Embedded in these unadorned declarative sentences about ordinary people, actions, animals, facts, objects and colors are evocations of the deepest feelings of loss and fear, love and hope. The characters have no vocabulary or taste for elaborate discussions. Like them, the book has a magical kind of tact. The author never disfigures what is implicit by spelling it out.
Alternative Books:
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- May B by Caroline Starr Rose
May B by Caroline Starr Rose
Published: 2012
Intended Audience: Grade 3-6, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
Mavis Betterly, better known as May B, is a twelve year-old sent out to work to help her parents’ financial woes. May B is working 15 miles away from home, as a caretaker for a girl, Mrs. Oblinger, who is only a few years older than May B. Mrs. Oblinger suffers from homesickness and soon takes off bound for Ohio, and Mr. Oblinger chases after her. Suddenly, May B is abandoned and all alone in a sod house on the prairie. Her parents will not come collect her until Christmas which is five months away, so she is on her own until then.
Relationship to My Program:
This book puts students in the shoes of a girl who is abandoned on the prairie and has to fend for herself. It chronicles her struggles and triumphs through the five months. It reinforces the idea of the need to survive in the harsh Wild West. It will relate directly to my talking about what it would take to survive in the Wild West.
Impact of the Book:
I hope the students enjoy the poetic prose of this book and that they see a different type of writing that can convey a story. I want the students to feel empowered by this book and know that they are capable of great things. I hope the students will walk away feeling like they can accomplish things they did not think they could before.
Potential Issues with the Book:
Some potential issues I see with this book are the poetic prose that the book is written in. It is a different style of writing than the students are used to, so comprehension might be a little difficult at first. Students may have a hard time fully understanding the text as it is written in short, choppy sentences. If someone approaches me about this book I will offer to have the children read an alternative book. There are no specific places in the book that I can think of that would be objectionable.
Support for the Book:
· Booklist: Furious that Ma and Pa have sent her out to work for the money they need, May Betts, 11, finds herself in a small, sod homestead on the western Kansas prairie in the late 1870s, 15 miles away from home, caring for a new, unsettled young bride, who is just a few years older than May. When the bride takes off, her husband leaves to find her, and May is all alone—frightened, furious, abandoned. Can she survive the five months until her parents come to collect her at Christmas? Told in very short lines, the spare free verse in spacious type is a fast read, poetic and immediate. The daily physical details are the heart of the survival story of finding food and keeping warm and safe as the snow comes, all against the dramatic backdrop of the prairie. The vast landscape is home to May, but to the new bride, the quiet is “thunderous as a storm, the way / it hounds you / inside / outside / nighttime / day.” Of course, Little House fans will grab this. Grades 3-7.
· Publishers Weekly: Set on the Kansas prairie in the 19th century, this debut novel in verse presents a harrowing portrait of pioneer life through the perspective of 12-year-old Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, called May B. After a disappointing harvest, May’s family sends her 15 miles away to help a farmer and his new bride (“She’s fancy and tall,/ but I’ve caught it right away—/ she’s hardly older than I”). May bravely faces the loss of family and the opportunity to attend school, until a homesick Mrs. Oblinger runs off for Ohio and Mr. Oblinger follows, leaving May completely alone. The spare free-verse poems effectively sketch this quietly courageous heroine, the allure and dangers of the open prairie, and the claustrophobic sod house setting. Tension mounts as the weather worsens and supplies dwindle. May’s struggle with reading is particularly affecting, and readers will recognize her unnamed and poorly understood difficulty as dyslexia. Writing with compassion and a wealth of evocative details, Rose offers a memorable heroine and a testament to the will to survive. Ages 8–12.
· School Library Journal: Gr 3–6—Times are tough on the Kansas prairie so May's family hires her out to tend house at a farm 15 miles away for the fall. Pa reminds the unhappy child that he'll be back to get her by Christmas. May knows that she'll be one less mouth to feed, but still can't bear the thought of leaving. She finds herself away from her parents and brother Hiram for the first time, and in a strange household, with a cold, unhappy bride from Ohio who cannot adjust to the hardships of prairie life. When Mrs. Oblinger runs away, and her husband sets off to bring her back, neither return, and May is left alone for several months, fighting the harsh elements and hunger and threatened by wolves, the trajectory of her story takes an unexpected turn. In desperation, she sets off on her own to get home. A subplot of May's internal struggle to teach herself to read despite an unnamed learning disability is believably realized and interspersed throughout. (The author's note indicates that dyslexia was, of course, unknown at the time.) Told in spare, vivid verse, May's story works on many levels; as a survival story, a coming-of-age tale, and a worthwhile next read for "Little House on the Prairie" fans.
· Kirkus Reviews: As unforgiving as the western Kansas prairies, this extraordinary verse novel--Rose's debut--paints a gritty picture of late-19th-century frontier life from the perspective of a 12-year-old dyslexic girl named Mavis Elizabeth Betterly… May B. for short. Between May and her brother Hiram, she's the dispensable one: "Why not Hiram? I think, / but I already know: / boys are necessary." Ma and Pa, hurting for money, hire out their daughter to the Oblingers, a newlywed couple who've just homesteaded 15 miles west--just until Christmas, Pa promises. May is bitter: "I'm helping everyone / except myself." She has trouble enough at school with her cumbersome reading without missing months… and how can she live in such close quarters with strangers? A misshapen sod house, Mr. Oblinger and his wife, a miserable teenager in a flaming red dress, greet her as "Pa tucks money / inside his shirt pocket." This sad-enough tale crescendos to a hair-raising survival story when May is inexplicably abandoned and left in complete isolation to starve… just until Christmas? Snowed in and way past the last apple, May thinks, "It is hard to tell what is sun, / what is candle, / what is pure hope." If May is a brave, stubborn fighter, the short, free-verse lines are one-two punches in this Laura Ingalls Wilder–inspired ode to the human spirit.
Alternate Books:
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Published: 1935
Intended Audience: Grade 3-6, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
One of six children, Caddie grows up in Wisconsin frontier in the late 1800’s. She refuses to be a “lady” but rather a Tom-boy. She goes on many adventures, and is friends with Native Americans whom her neighbors are scared of. Her dealings with the Indians will in the end save the day when the Indians are going to massacre the settlers.
Relationship to My Program:
This book highlights the interactions between the white settlers and the Native Americans. This interaction was important across the Wild West and it is seen in many of the book in this text set, at least it’s mentioned. This will relate to my lesson about the Native Americans and white settlers in the Wild West.
Impact of the Book:
I hope the students come away realizing the power they have to make a difference. Caddie was able to prevent what would have been a tragic event, and the story puts much of the power behind Caddie. The protagonist will be relatable for students so I hope that they realize that one person can change a course of events just by speaking up and believing in themselves.
Possible Issues with the Book:
One issue is Caddie gets punished when she and her brothers play practical jokes, but only she gets punished because she is not behaving as a girl should. She then submits to authority and finds that being a young woman may be harder than thought and may be something worth working for. Some may find this offensive, as it passes along a message that women are supposed to behave a certain way and submit to authority. If someone approaches me with this issue I will attempt to explain the book in the context of the times, and if they are not persuaded then I will offer up alternative books.
Support for the Book:
· Winner of the Newberry Award in 1936
· Children’s Literature Review: Although this Newbery Award winning novel was published in 1935, its protagonist, brave and lively 11 year old Caddie, and her many exciting, humorous and sometimes dangerous adventures might still have appeal to young readers of both sexes. The book is based on true stories of the author's grandmother, who lived on the Wisconsin frontier in the 1860s. Caddie tries to reject her mother's attempts to turn her into a young lady, preferring to join and sometimes even instigate the deeds and pranks of her brothers. She stands up to a school bully, and gets revenge on a snobbish, visiting cousin. Unfortunately, this otherwise fine novel tries to portray Native Americans in a manner that would seem sympathetic for the times, but by today's standards would still be considered condescending and rather stereotyped.
· Kirkus Review: Wisconsin and farm life in the years just before the Civil War, and the story of Caddie who became a tomboy and who learned to plough instead of sew. There is plenty of incident, and there is also an authentic picture of life on a frontier farm when massacre was a real threat and when a livelihood, hardly earned, allowed for fun in natural outdoor things.
· New York Times Book Review: Those who enjoyed Carol Brink's promising first book, "Anything Can Happen on the River," will not be surprised to find that in "Caddie Woodlawn" she has written an even better story. There is again an abundance of lively incidents, while the characterization is deeper and the background filled in with a surer hand.
Alternate Books:
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
Published: 2002
Intended Audience: Grade 4-6, Whole Class Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
The story follows a young Ojibwa girl named Omakayas on the banks of Lake Superior in the mid-1800’s. Omakayas was the only survivor of a smallpox epidemic that ran rampant in her village. She is taken in by a woman named Tallow in another Ojibwa village. The book takes readers through four seasons of 1847 and chronicles when the smallpox epidemic once again touched her life in the winter of 1847.
Relationship to My Program:
This book directly relates to when I teach about Native Americans in the time of Westward Expansion. The perspective is different from anything else we have in this text set. Instead of having the story told from the point of view of a white settler, we get to see the perspective of a young Native American girl in the same time-period of white settlers.
Impact of the Book:
I hope this book deeply roots itself in my students. The story is so poignant and each student should feel touched emotionally by this book. There is a point where a death occurs and it is a very moving point in the book. I hope that point sticks with the students and that it brings up a conversation. I also hope the students feel motivated to read the other three books in the series and that they look at the other books we read from both sides of the story. For example, if they are reading Little House on the Prairie and the scene where Laura runs into an Indian, I hope they can see the reactions from both sides.
Possible Issues with the Book:
An issue that might arise from this book is when the death occurs. It rattles the student a little bit, and parents may not appreciate that. If I am approached by a concerned individual, I will make sure to respect their opinion and offer alternative reading but attempt to urge them to have their child read this book as it is a very important piece of literature.
Support for the Book:
· National Book Award for Young Adult Literature Nominee 1999
· New York Times Book Review: In ''The Birchbark House,'' a story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas (pronounced oh-MAH-kay-ahs), living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about 19th-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at ''them'' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family's history, wants to tell about ''us,'' from the inside. ''The Birchbark House'' establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder's ''Little House'' books.
· Kirkus Review: With this volume, Erdrich (Grandmother's Pigeon, 1996, etc.) launches her cycle of novels about a 19th-century Ojibwa family, covering in vivid detail their everyday life as they move through the seasons of one year on an island on Lake Superior. A baby girl crawls among the bodies of her family, dead from smallpox. After that stinging beginning, an unexpectedly enjoyable story follows, replete with believable characterizations, humor, family love, and misadventures. Omakayas, now seven, adores baby brother Neewo, detests rambunctious five-year-old brother Pinch, and worships her beautiful teenage sister, Angeline. Omakayas works and plays through the summer and fall, learning the ways of her people; she has a frightful adventure with bears and adopts a young raven as a pet. But in winter smallpox again affects her life: Neewo dies, and Angeline is scarred for life. Omakayas cannot find her way back to happiness until an odd old woman tells her the truth of her past, in a novel that is by turns charming, suspenseful, and funny, and always bursting with life.
· Publishers Weekly: Erdrich's (Grandmother's Pigeon) debut novel for children is the first in a projected cycle of books centering on an Ojibwa family on an island in Lake Superior. Opening in the summer of 1847, the story follows the family, in a third-person narrative, through four seasons; it focuses on young Omakayas, who turns "eight winters old" during the course of the novel. In fascinating, nearly step-by-step details, the author describes how they build a summer home out of birchbark, gather with extended family to harvest rice in the autumn, treat an attack of smallpox during the winter and make maple syrup in the spring to stock their own larder and to sell to others. Against the backdrop of Ojibwa cultural traditions, Omakayas also conveys the universal experiences of childhood--a love of the outdoors, a reluctance to do chores, devotion to a pet--as well as her ability to cope with the seemingly unbearable losses of the winter. The author hints at Omakayas's unusual background and her calling as a healer, as well as the imminent dangers of the "chimookoman" or white people, setting the stage for future episodes. Into her lyrical narrative, Erdrich weaves numerous Ojibwa words, effectively placing them in context to convey their meanings. Readers will want to follow this family for many seasons to come. Ages 9-up.
Alternate Book:
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman
- Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Published: 2001
Intended Audience: Grade 4-6, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
May Amelia is growing up in Washington in 1899. She is the youngest of seven kids and is a tomboy. The book follows May Amelia on her adventures with her brothers and also follows her family’s experiences, and the harsh realities that faced the western settlers.
Relationship to My Program:
This book is another wonderful exploration of the northwest in the Wild West. May Amelia is another strong female character who helps settle some relations with the Native Americans. This book helps reinforce the idea of the possibility of peaceful relations and possibility of peaceful coexistence between white settlers and Native Americans.
Impact of the Book:
I hope students will find May Amelia a relatable character and if they have traveled to Washington then maybe they would recognize some of the places discussed. I also hope the students find this book entertaining and find May Amelia’s spirit inspiring. I want the students to want to read more about the prairie times.
Potential Issues with the Book:
This book does discuss when May Amelia’s younger sister, whom she longs so long for, dies while May Amelia is caring for her. May Amelia falls asleep and sleeps very soundly. She wakes up to realize that her sister is dead. There is also some harsh language used as well as a very harsh grandmother that could startle the children. If a parent comes to me and wishes for their child to read something else, I will allow it.
Support for the Book:
· Publishers Weekly: An unforgettable heroine narrates Holm's extraordinary debut novel set in Washington State in 1899. Twelve-year-old tomboy May Amelia Jackson, the youngest of seven children and the only girl in a Finnish immigrant family, lives in the wilderness along the Nasel River: "I have so many brothers, more than any girl should have. My secret birthday wish is to get a sister." Holm's uncanny ability to give each of the siblings and a wide range of adults a distinctive character while maintaining May Amelia's spunky narrative voice, gives the novel its immediacy and potency. Through May Amelia's travels, readers witness the diverse ways of life in the expanding West: peaceful relations with the Chinook Indians, the plight of a widow barmaid, the taboos around her brother's interest in an Irish girl, the dangers posed by the neighboring logging camp, her aunt's life in the nearby boomtown of Astoria, Ore., as well as the rhythms of the seasons. The sometimes gruesome realities of the Jacksons' lives are tempered by May's strength of character and her bond to her favorite brother, Wilbert. Readers will fall in love with May Amelia's spirited nature; when she saves her brothers from a cougar, she tells them, "I reckon it's a Darn Good Thing I'm not a Proper Young Lady or you'd be a cougar's supper right about now." This novel is not to be missed. Ages 9-up.
· Kirkus Review: May Amelia, the feisty lovable heroine of Holm's fetching novel, “ain't no proper young lady.'' A 12-year-old girl with an adventurous spirit and “a nose for trouble,'' May Amelia is the youngest of eight children and the only girl. Life in the rough world of logging camps and farming in the wilderness of the state of Washington in 1899 is not easy, and May Amelia and her brothers have to work hard to keep farm and family going. May Amelia dreams of being a sailor and traveling to China, but is hampered by everyone, especially her strict Finnish-born father, who is always yelling at her for “doing what the boys are doing.'' The book chronicles May Amelia's adventures with her brothers, a brush with a wild bear, conflicts with her mean- tempered grandmother, and the long-awaited birth of a baby sister who later dies in her sleep. The story, which is episodic and somewhat shapeless, careens along before stopping without much resolution. Still, the robust characterizations captivate, the lilting dialogue twangs, and the sharply individual first-person narrative gives the material authority and polish.
· Booklist: May Amelia, age 12, lives with her stern Finnish father, pregnant mother, and seven brothers in the state of Washington in the late 1800s. She records the details of her life in a diary using the present tense and a folksy speech pattern: "I go about fixing dinner real quiet-like so they can talk and tell secrets." Aside from quarrels with her adoptive brother Kaarlo, May lives a relatively bucolic life until the arrival of her shrewish grandmother, who finds fault with everything May says and does. The author bases her story on her aunt's real diary, so the everyday details of life among Finnish immigrants add a nice specificity to the background, and May is appealingly vivacious. However, the lack of quotation marks, the overuse of certain expressions (among them, "indeed"), the length, and sometimes slow pacing may make this a secondary purchase.
Alternate Books:
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
Published: 2013
Intended Audience: Grade 6-8, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
In Placid, Wisconsin lives Georgie Burkhardt, a 13-year-old ruffian who is a good sharpshooter and speaks her mind. When her older sister runs away without a goodbye, Georgie is left to wonder what happened. The sheriff brings back what is supposedly her sister, but is a body that they cannot identify and it’s wearing her sister’s dress. Everyone believes that the body is Georgie’s dead sister, Agatha. Well Georgie is not convinced, so she sets off, joined by Agatha’s former suitor, Billy, to solve the mystery of where her sister disappeared to.
Relationship to My Program:
This book is a mystery. It will get the students intrigued in learning more about the Wild West. It gives a good context for further exploration as the setting and descriptions leave much for me to work off of as a teacher and build upon.
Impact of the Book:
I hope this book engages the students. This is a very suspenseful, nail-biting tale as Georgie continually tries to find her sister. I hope this book is just the story that the students to get interested in the topic of Westward expansion. I also want the students to really enjoy this book and savor its suspense.
Potential Issues with the Book:
The part in the book where the body is brought for identification describes the body in some detail, her sister is engaged to one man and kisses another, and there is a lot of shooting and some violence. Some parents may have some objections to this book, and if that is the case, I will tell them that this is a historical novel, and emphasize that it is a period novel. If they still have an issue with it, I will offer other books for their child’s reading.
Support for the Book:
· Kirkus Review: In 1871, in the small town of Placid, Wis., a sister goes missing and a great adventure begins. Disconsolate over the end of a promising courtship, Agatha Burkhardt runs off without so much as a goodbye to her younger sister, Georgie. When the sheriff attempts to locate and retrieve Agatha, he brings home not the vibrant sister that Georgie adores, but an unidentifiable body wearing Agatha's ball gown. Alone in her belief that the body is not her sister's, Georgie sneaks away in the dead of night, determined to retrace Agatha's steps in order to solve the mystery of her disappearance and, she hopes, to bring her home. To Georgie's surprise, she's joined on the journey by her sister's former flame. And what a journey it is, fraught with mountain lions, counterfeiters and marriage proposals. The truly memorable characters and setting--particularly descriptions of the incredible phenomenon of passenger-pigeon nesting and migration--and the gradual unraveling of the mystery of Agatha's disappearance make this one hard to put down. The icing on the cake, though, is Georgie's narration, which is fresh, laugh-out-loud funny and an absolute delight to read. Georgie's story will capture readers' imaginations with the very first sentences and then hold them hostage until the final page is turned.
· Booklist: To find out what really happened to her purportedly dead sister, sharpshooting 13-year-old Georgie Burkhardt and her sister’s one-time suitor Billy McCabe follow the trail of pigeon hunters and discover far worse going on near Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871. Georgie tells her story in a first-person narrative that rings true to the time and place. She is smart, determined, and not a little blind to the machinations of adults around her, including Billy, who has been sent by Georgie’s storekeeper grandfather to follow her and keep her safe. She does notice that Billy is well made, but this is no love story; it’s a story of acceptance, by Georgie, her family, and her small town. Timberlake weaves in the largest passenger pigeon nesting ever seen in North America, drought and fatal fires along Lake Michigan that year, a currency crisis that spawned counterfeiters, and advice on prairie travel from an actual handbook from the times. Historical fiction and mystery combine to make this a compelling adventure, and an afterword helps disentangle facts from fiction. Grades 6-9.
· School Library Journal: In Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871, 13-year-old Georgie's mother identifies bits of a body belonging to her oldest daughter, Agatha, but Georgie is not convinced. The blue-green dress on the corpse may have belonged to her sister, but what does that really prove? Georgie joins forces with her sibling's former suitor, Billy McCabe, to retrace her runaway sister's steps and track down the truth. Along the journey, flashbacks reveal the events leading up to Agatha's departure and cause Georgie to evaluate her own role in the disappearance. Tara Sands does an excellent job capturing Georgie's voice with all of its humor, quirks, and tell-it-like-it-is attitude. The secondary characters are also well done as Sands provides each with a recognizable voice. Georgie's quest, along with the narrator's perfect pacing, will quickly draw readers in as they will want to know, along with Georgie, what really happened to Agatha. A concluding author's note provides much appreciated historical context.
Alternate Books:
- The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- May B by Caroline Starr Rose
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman
Published: 1996
Intended Audience: Grade 5-7, Individual Reading
Brief Summary of the Book:
California Morning Whipple, who calls herself Lucy, is bitter over her mother’s decision to drag her from their Massachusetts home, all the way to the California frontier during the heat of the Gold Rush. Over the six years that the book chronicles, through trials and tribulations of the West, she writes of the struggles she endures, from her 11 year-old brother’s death, to her eventual decision to stay in California later in the book. She realizes that home is where she makes it.
Relationship to My Program:
This book will directly relate to when I teach a lesson about gold rushes in the West. Lucy Whipple has two different views of California, when she first arrives she is bitter from being torn from her home, which is very realistic to how some children would have felt if their parents had caught the gold rush fever. By the end of the book, however, Lucy warms up to the idea and ends up staying in California instead of going back with her family.
Impact of the Book:
I hope my students take away from this book is that change can be good. At first, change is hard, but in the end, sometimes it’s for the best. This is exactly what happens to Lucy. Though she goes through many trials, in the end, she realizes that home is where she decides she wants it to be. I hope they understand that not everyone got a say in whether or not they went out West and when they were forced to, sometimes it was really hard for them.
Potential Issues with the Book:
This book is a period novel set in the time of the Gold Rush, which means there are bound to be inappropriate words said in the miners’ camps. Some expressions are used only once, while others are a little more frequent. This may concern some individuals, and if I am approached about it, I will explain the context of the words, and how it is a period novel that is portraying the harsh realities of the Gold Rush in California. If they are still objecting, I will offer up alternative books for their child to read.
Support for the Book:
· School Library Journal: Following the death of Lucy's father, her mother moves her family from Massachusetts to the gold fields of California. Their home is now the rough-and-tumble gold-mining town of Lucky Diggins. Lucy feels distinctly out of place and longs for her grandparents and home. She tells of traveling west and settling down in this lonesome place, occasionally relating incidents through letters to her grandparents. She is a dreamy, bookish girl, not interested in the harsh life of the gold camps and California wilderness. Still, she makes unusual friends and has some adventures. Her brother, Butte, 11, dies; her mother works hard in a boarding house for miners and falls in love with a traveling evangelist. Lucy matures considerably over the course of the book, in the end choosing to remain in California rather than return to Massachusetts or follow her sisters, mother, and her mother's new husband to the Sandwich Islands. Cushman's heroine is a delightful character, and the historical setting is authentically portrayed. Lucy's story, as the author points out in her end notes, is the story of many pioneer women who exhibited great strength and courage as they helped to settle the West. The book is full of small details that children will love. Butte, for example, collects almost 50 words for liquor; listing them takes up half of a page. Young readers will enjoy this story, and it will make a great tie-in to American history lessons.
· Kirkus Review: The recent Newbery medalist plunks down two more strong-minded women, this time in an 1849 mining camp—a milieu far removed from the Middle Ages of her first novels, but not all that different when it comes to living standards. Arvella Whipple and her three children, Sierra, Butte, and 11-year-old California Morning, make a fresh start in Lucky Diggins, a town of mud, tents, and rough-hewn residents. It's a far cry from Massachusetts; as her mother determinedly settles in, California rebelliously changes her name to Lucy and starts saving every penny for the trip back east. Ever willing to lose herself in a book when she should be doing errands, Lucy is an irresistible teenager; her lively narration and stubborn, slightly naive self-confidence (as well as a taste for colorful invective: "Gol durn, rip-snortin' rumhole and cussed, dad-blamed, dag diggety, thundering pisspot," she storms) recall the narrator of Catherine, Called Birdy (1994), without seeming as anachronistic. Other characters are drawn with a broader brush, a shambling platoon of unwashed miners with hearts (and in one case, teeth) of gold. Arvella eventually moves on, but Lucy has not only lost her desire to leave California, but found a vocation as well: town librarian. With a story that is less a period piece than a timeless and richly comic coming-of-age story, Cushman remains on a roll.
· Publishers Weekly: In a voice so heartbreakingly bitter that readers can taste her homesickness, California Morning Whipple describes her family's six-year stay in a small mining town during the Gold Rush. Her mother, a restless widow with an acid tongue, has uprooted her children from their home in Massachusetts to make a new life in Lucky Diggins. California rebels by renaming herself Lucy and by hoarding the gold dust and money she earns baking dried apple and vinegar pies, saving up for a journey home. Over years of toil and hardship, Lucy realizes, somewhat predictably, that home is wherever she makes one. As in her previous books, Newbery Award winner Cushman (The Midwife's Apprentice) proves herself a master at establishing atmosphere. Here she also renders serious social issues through sharply etched portraits: a runaway slave who has no name of his own, a preacher with a congregation of one, a raggedy child whose arms are covered in bruises. The writing reflects her expert craftsmanship; for example, Lucy's brother Butte, dead for lack of a doctor, is eulogized thus: ""He was eleven years old, could do his sums, and knew fifty words for liquor."" A coming-of-age story rich with historical flavor.
Alternate Books:
- Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
- May B by Caroline Starr Rose