Books to Read in Collaboration with Any of the Addie Books

THE WESTWARD JOURNEY

Picture Books and Easy Readers

• Bunting, Eve. Dandelions. Harcourt, 1995. Zoe and her family travel from their Minnesota homestead to the Nebraska territory where the grass seems to stretch forever.
• Harvey, Brett. Cassie's Journey: Going West In The 1860's. Holiday, 1988. Told from the viewpoint of a small girl, the story relates the adventure, hardships and dangers of going west. Based on several accounts, many taken from Lillian Schlissel's Women's Diaries Of The Westward Journey.
• Sorenson, Henri. New Hope. Lothrop, 1995. Grandpa tells the story of how his ancestors started a town because of a broken wagon axle.

• Levine, Ellen. ....If You Traveled West In A Covered Wagon. Scholastic, 1992. Easy to read questions and answers about going west.

FRONTIER LIVING

Picture Books and Earlier Chapter Books

• Brenner, Barbara. Wagon Wheels. Harper, 1978. An account of the settling of Nicodemus, Kansas, a black community founded after the Civil War.
• Coerr, Eleanor. Chang's Paper Pony. HarperCollins, 1988. In this easy reader, the Gold Rush is on and Chang and his Grandpa Lu come from China to work in a mining camp.
• Harvey, Brett. My Prairie Year: Based On The Diary Of Elenore Plaisted. Holiday, 1986. Based on the diary of the author's grandmother, this picture book describes a family's experiences in the Dakota Territory.
• Turner, Ann. Dakota Dugout. Macmillan, 1985. In this good read aloud, a woman tells her granddaughter what is was like to live in a sod house on the Dakota prairie a century ago. Also, Sewing Quilts, by the same author.

Fiction

• Armstrong, Jennifer. Black-Eyed Susan. Crown, 1996. Susan's mother cannot cope with life on the prairie and suffers bouts of depression and is unable to understand Susan's love of the prairie's beauty and solitude.
• Conrad, Pam. Prairie Songs. HarperCollins, 1985. Young Louisa Downing, who homesteads the Nebraska prairie with her family, watches as a young doctor's wife suffers from serious depression as she struggles to cope with life on the prairie.
• DeFelice, Cynthia. Weasel. Macmillan, 1990. Alone in the frontier wilderness in the winter of 1839 while his father is recovering from an injury, eleven-year-old Nathan runs afoul of a renegade killer known as Weasel and makes a surprising discovery about the concept of revenge.
• Gregory, Kristiana. The Legend Of Jimmy Spoon. Harcourt, 1990. The adventures of a young white boy living among the Shoshoni Indians during the early frontier days. Sequel: Jimmy Spoon And The Pony Express.
• MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain And Tall. HarperCollins, 1985. When their father invites a mail-order bride to live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by her and hope she will stay. Sequel: Skylark.
• Turner, Ann. Grasshopper Summer. Macmillan, 1989. In 1874, eleven-year-old Sam and his family move from Kentucky to the southern Dakota Territory and a plague of hungry grasshoppers threatens their chance of survival.
• Whelan, Gloria. Night Of The Full Moon. Knopf, 1993. 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 1840's.

Nonfiction

• Bial, Raymond. Frontier Home. Houghton, 1993. Describes the home life of pioneer families and shows equipment, implements and the inside and outside of frontier homes.
• Chu, Daniel. Going Home To Nicodemus: The Story Of An African-American Frontier Town And The Pioneers Who Settled It. Messner, 1995. Documented research and interviews with descendants of the original settlers of the all-black settlement of Nicodemus, Kansas.
• Cobb, Mary. The Quilt-Block History Of Pioneer Days With Projects Kids Can Make. Millbrook, 1995. This brightly illustrated book shows how traditional quilt designs tell the story of pioneer days.
• Conrad, Pam. Prairie Visions: The Life And Times Of Solomon Butcher. HarperCollins, 1991. A collection of photographs and stories about photographer Solomon Butcher and turn-of-the-century Nebraska.
• Freedman, Russell. Children Of The Wild West. Clarion, 1983. Well-chosen graphics and text depict the lives of pioneer families. Includes material on Native American children as well.
• Katz, William Loren. Black Women Of The Old West. Atheneum, 1995. Short vignettes illustrated by numerous black and white reproductions.
• Miller, Brandon Marie. Buffalo Gals: Women Of The Old West. Lerner, 1995. Teachers, homesteaders, Native Americans, Mexican Americans and Mormons are featured in this well-illustrated and beautifully written book.
• Rounds, Glen. Sod Houses On The Great Plains. Holiday, 1995. Simple prose and pastel drawings bring to life the hardy pioneers and their sod houses on the Great Plains.
• Schlissel, Lillian. Black Frontier: A History Of The African-American Heroes In the Old West. Simon & Schuster, 1996. Includes material about homesteaders, cowboys, miners and mail-order brides, professional people and adventurers.