Books in Spanish
For Independent Reading
VERY EASY
- Josefina y la colcha de retazos (The Josefina Story Quilt)
- by Eleanor Coerr
A family and their pet chicken head west.
- Paul Bunyan (Paul Bunyan)
- by Steven Kellogg
Morrow
A humorous version of the legend about the famous lumberjack of extraordinary strength and size.
- Pecos Bill
- by Steven Kellogg
Morrow
The tall tale of the famed Texas cowboy raised by coyotes after he fell from his family's covered wagon.
EASY
- La casa de la pradera (Little House on the Prairie)
- by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The classic story of the Ingalls family and their home on the Kansas prairie.
- A orillas del río Plum (On the Banks of Plum Creek)
- by Laura Ingalls Wilder
After moving to Minnesota, the Ingalls family face severe weather and a plague of grasshoppers.
- Sarah, sencilla y alta (Sarah Plain and Tall)
- by Patricia MacLachlan
Anna and Caleb wait anxiously for Papa's new mail order bride to arrive from Maine.
- Como una alondra (Skylark)
- by Patricia MacLachlan
A drought threatens the life that Sarah, Jacob, Anna, and Caleb have made on the prairie.
AVERAGE
- La caravana de los niños (Children on the Wagon Trail)
- by Ann Rutgers van der Loeff
(Social Studies)
Based on the true story of seven brothers who encountered bears and withstood torrential downpours and sandstorms on their journey to the West.
- Mr. Misterio y cia (Mr. Mysterious and Company)
- by Sid Fleischman
Mr. Mysterious and his family travel by covered wagon to California, performing magic acts in towns along the way.
- ¡Por la gran cuchara de cuerno! (By the Great Horn Spoon)
- by Sid Fleischman
Jack heads for California to find gold to help his aunt who is deeply in debt.
- Furia de oro en el Páramo (Gold Fever in the Páramo)
- by Guillermo Gutiérrez
This book relates the adventures of explorers and pioneers searching for gold in the Páramo of Argentina.
- Aquel formidable Far West (That Great Wild West)
- by William Camus
Pete Breakfast and his dog Patchwork set out for the Great Wild West and end up in a Wyoming town where they have many adventures.
- El fabricante de lluvia (The Rain Maker)
- by William Camus
Pete Breakfast is delighted when the mysterious rain maker becomes his friend and companion.
- La creación de una tribu de California: Los relatos de los indios maidus que contaba el abuelo (Creation of a California Tribe: Grandfather's Maidu Indian Tale)
- by Lee Ann Smith-Trafzer and Clifford E. Trafzer
(Multicultural)
With his grandfather's help, Travis learns more about the history and customs of his people.
CHALLENGING
- Cowboy (Cowboy)
- by David Murdoch
Knopf
A history of cowboys and their lives, including American cowboys and South American gauchos.
- La riada del oro en California hacia 1850 (The Gold Rush in California Around 1850)
- by Patrick Restellini
The discovery of gold in California brought people from all over the United States and Europe to seek their fortunes.
- El último mohicano (The Last of the Mohicans)
- by James Fenimore Cooper
In this book in Cooper's Leatherstocking series, Natty Bumpo gets involved with the Huron Indians in the Lake Champlain area.
For Teacher Read Aloud
- La canción de la luna (Sing Down the Moon)
- by Scott O'Dell
(Multicultural)
A Navajo girl describes her people's forced march from their homeland in the 1800s.
Books in English
(English Language Development)
For Shared or Independent Reading
VERY EASY
- Wagons West
- by Roy Gerrard
(Social Studies)
Farrar
The westward trip to Oregon by a group of diminutive farmers is breezily recalled in rhyme years later by a young woman who went on the journey as a child.
- Wagon Wheels
- by Barbara Brenner
(Multicultural)
Harper
An African American boy describes the adventures of his family traveling to Kansas.
- Sod Houses of the Great Plains
- by Glen Rounds
(Social Studies)
Holiday
The author, who was born in a sod house, explains what they are and how they were made.
EASY
- Dandelions
- by Eve Bunting
(Social Studies)
Harcourt
Zoe plants dandelions on top of her family's sod house so it can be seen across the vast prairie.
- Frontier Home
- by Raymond Bial
(Social Studies)
Houghton
Describes the homes and daily lives of the pioneers.
AVERAGE/CHALLENGING
- Old Yeller
- by Fred Gipson
When his father leaves for the cattle trail, Travis learns to rely on himself and his big yellow dog.
- Bound for Oregon
- by Jean Van Leeuwen
(Social Studies)
Dial
Young Mary Ellen Todd relates her family's trip from Arkansas to Oregon in 1852.
- Tales from Gold Mountain
- by Paul Yee
(Multicultural)
Macmillan
Eight original stories based on Chinese immigrant experiences.
- Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story
- by Jim McGugan
(Social Studies)
Chronicle
Because of his limited English, an immigrant boy decides he must leave school and seek work.
- Black Women of the Old West
- by William Loren Katz
(Multicultural)
Atheneum
Text and photos show the roles African American women played in Western frontier life.
For Teacher Read Aloud
- On to Oregon
- by Honoré Morrow
(Social Studies)
Morrow
The classic story of the Sager children's covered wagon trip from Missouri to Oregon.
- Swamp Angel
- by Anne Isaacs
Dutton
In this humorous tall tale, Angelica Longrider gets the better of a bear called Thundering Tarnation.
- Caddie Woodlawn
- by Carol Ryrie Brink
(Social Studies)
Macmillan
Describes Caddie's life on the Wisconsin frontier in the 1860s.