Read other books about traveling on the Oregon Trail.


    • Moeri, Louise. Save Queen of Sheba. Dutton, 1981. -- A young boy named King David uses his resourcefulness and determineation to save his sister, Queen of Sheba, after they are left as the only survivors following an Indian attack on their Oregon-bound wagon train.

    • Morrow, Honore. On to Oregon. Illustrated by Edward Shenton. Morrow, 1926. Details the epic journey of the Sager children by covered wagon from Missouri to Oregon in 1848.

      • More Challenging Text for YA Readers

    • Lasky, Kathryn. Beyond the Divide Macmillan, 1983. -- A record of Meribah Simon, in journal form, afrom April 1, 1849, to June 1, 1850. Meribah accompanies her father, who has been shunned by their Amish community, West. Along the way, the two encounter cruel emigrants, the death of friends, selfishness, miserliness, rap, and finally the father's death. But Meribah survives and makes her home in the Northwest.

    • Stewart, George R. The Pioneers Go West. Random, 1954, 1987. -- In 1844, the first covered wagons headed west to California. This book is based on the journal of a seventeen-year-old boy who rode in that caravan from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Sacramento.

General Response Suggestions for Books Suggested


    • Make a map of the route the family/person took westward. On the map mark the places and towns mentioned in the book.

    • Compare and contrast the life during those times with the life you live.

    • Divide a piece of paper down the middle vertically. On the left-hand side of the paper, list some "modern" convenience that you or your family uses everyday in your household -- for example, a clothes dryer or washing machine. In the right-hand column opposite the item in the left column, write how the pioneer famiy would have accomplished the same task as the one performed by the convenience.

    • From the information in the book, detail the time schedule that one of the characters might follow during a typical day. Make a time schedule for yourself.

Questions to Answer/Discuss:


    • What do you think was the problem with the family's father after the children's mother died? How do you think he might have been helped in 1852? How do you think he might have been helped in this century?

    • How did the girls demonstrated their resourcefulness in their search for water? Cite specifics from the book.

    West Along the Wagon Road, 1852 (1998) Ministrel® Pocket Books. ISBN: 0671015516; (2000) paperback ISBN: 067177557X. American Sisters Series. 182 pg. Historical Fiction.
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