Bibliography

Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails

The books listed below may be available through publishers, distributors such as bookstores or online retailers, or library systems.

Recommended Leveled Books for Independent Reading

Below Level

Mississippi Mud by Ann Turner
Harper 1997 (48p)
Children use poetry to describe their family's trip from Kentucky to Oregon.
Social Studies

The Prairie Fire by Marilyn Reynolds
Orca 1999 (32p)
As fire races across the prairie, young Percy must try to save his family's home.
Social Studies

Kindle Me a Riddle by Roberta Karim
Greenwillow 1999 (40p)
When Constance lets the cabin fire go out, her father cheers her up with a riddle.
Social Studies

Red Flower Goes West by Ann Turner
Hyperion 1999 (32p)
When a family heads west during the Gold Rush, they take with them a red flower from their garden as a reminder of their old home.
Social Studies

Aunt Clara Brown: Official Pioneer by Linda Lowery
Carolrhoda 1999 (48p)
Freed slave Clara Brown went west, became rich, and helped other freed slaves begin new lives.
Multicultural

My Heroes, My People by Morgan Monceaux
Farrar 1999 (64p)
Featured here are African Americans and Native Americans of the old West.
Multicultural

Rachel's Journal by Marissa Moss
Harcourt 1998 (48p)
Rachel records her family's adventures on their trip from Illinois to California in 1850.
Social Studies

The Buffalo Jump by Peter Roop
Rising Moon 1996 (32p)
Little Blaze is unhappy when his brother is chosen to lead the herd in the buffalo jump.
Multicultural

I Have Heard of a Land by Joyce Carol Thomas
Harper 1998 (32p)
The author draws on her family's history in this account of African Americans settling in the Oklahoma territory.
Multicultural

My Name Is York by Elizabeth Van Steenwyck
Rising Moon 1997 (32p)
York, an enslaved man who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition, tells his story.
Multicultural

* Frontier Home by Raymond Bial
Houghton 1993 (40p)
Bial uses photos to show the reality of daily life for the early pioneers.
Social Studies

On Level

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Simon 1935 (275p) also paper
The author recounts stories of her grandmother on the Wisconsin frontier in the 1860s.
Classic

* Daily Life in a Plains Indian Village by Michael Bad Hand Terry
Houghton 1999 (48p)
Photos re-create the daily life of the Northern Cheyenne in Minnesota in 1868.
Multicultural

The Way West by Amelia Stewart Knight
Simon 1993 (40p) also paper
The author's diary reveals her experiences traveling by covered wagon to the Oregon Territory.
Social Studies

Off the Map edited by Peter and Connie Roop
Walker 1983 (48p) also paper
The story of Lewis and Clark's 1806 expedition is told through their journal entries.
Social Studies

West by Covered Wagon by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Walker 1995 (32p)
A modern-day wagon train journey is compared with such a journey a hundred years earlier.
Social Studies

* Cowboys of the Wild West by Russell Freedman
Clarion 1985 (104p)
A view of the day-to-day life of cow herders of the 1800s.

Girl of the Shining Mountains by Peter and Connie Roop
Hyperion 1999 (144p)
At age sixteen, Sacagawea served as a guide for Lewis and Clark.
Multicultural

* Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling
Houghton 1942 (64p)
The history of the Great Plains and the Santa Fe Trail is told by focusing on events that happen around one particular cottonwood tree.

Above Level

Luke on the High Seas by Bonnie Pryor
Harper 2000 (192p)
Luke leaves his prairie home to travel by clipper ship with his uncle from Boston to California.
Social Studies

The Captain's Dog by Roland Smith
Harcourt 1999 (208p)
Meriwether Lewis's dog Seaman gives his account of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

* Pioneer Sampler by Barbara Greenwood
Houghton 1995 (240p)
Fact and fiction give a picture of everyday life in the mid-1800s.
Social Studies

The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman
Holiday 1996 (160p)
This biography explores the life of the Sioux warrior who defeated Custer at Little Big Horn.
Multicultural