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Summary
Summary
In book one of this diary of life on the Oregon Trail, Pat Hermes tells the story of Joshua McCullough's family's experiences as they pack up their belongings and head west in a wagon train.
It is 1848 when Joshua McCullough and his family leave their home in St. Joseph, Missouri, and set off for Oregon on a wagon train. During their seven-month-long journey, many of the other families on the trail suffer devastating losses, but Joshua's is spared. However, Joshua must conquer his fear of water during the many river crossings the wagon train must make. During one dramatic crossing, Joshua heroically dives into a rushing river to save his younger sister Becky. The battered wagon train reaches Oregon after traveling over two thousand miles.
Author Notes
Patricia Hermes was born in Brooklyn, New York on February 21, 1936. She graduated from St. John's University in 1957 with degrees in speech and English. She briefly taught English and social studies in middle school before taking time off to raise her children. When she returned to teaching, but decided to pursue a professional writing career after taking a class in writing nonfiction for adults. Her articles appeared in national parenting magazines as well as an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times, which caught the attention of a literary agent. The agent suggested she write for young readers.
In 1980, her first book, What If They Knew?, was published. Since then she has written over fifty books for children and young adults including Nobody's Fault?, The Cousins Club series, the Emma Dilemma series, and six historical novels in the Scholastic Dear America/My America series. She received numerous awards including the Smithsonian Notable Book Award, the C. S. Lewis Honor Award, the American Library Association Best Book Award, and the award for the New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Years. She died on July 11, 2018 at the age of 82.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Horn Book Review
In a series of journal entries, young Joshua McCullough tells of his family's journey along the Oregon Trail in 1848. Joshua's candid, believable voice brings the frontier experience to life on a personal, everyday level, as they face hunger, blistering heat, torrential rains, and both hostile and friendly Indians. A historical note provides additional information as well as period photographs and drawings. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Another installment in this years new My America series, this is the fictional diary of Joshua, a young boy whose family joins a wagon train to Oregon in 1848. Joshuas tale offers language simple enough for emerging readers, but pulls few punches regarding the harsh realities of the westward pioneer journey. Joshua can hardly contain his excitement at the prospect of the journey. His diary begins as his parents and extended family make the difficult decision to uproot their lives. On the trail he experiences dust, heat, and fear, along with the births of babies and the deaths of others from cholera, accidents, and Indian attack. Joshua also finds his cousin, Rachel, dead one morning, the victim of an accidental hanging during the night. The storys not all tragedy; there is a nice balance with more positive experiences, such as Joshuas childhood friendships along the trail. His grandfather helps him kill a buffalo, and he saves his little sister Becky from drowning when she falls into a rushing river. Hermes sparks her tale with a budding romance for Joshua as he copes with the grief, anger, and charity of the adults in the wagon train. Decent historical fiction aimed at appealing to the reader who would enjoy the sense of reading a diary to learn more about the harsh realities and triumphs of Americas westward pioneers. (Fiction. 7-10)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3^-5. Through the 1848 journal of nine-year-old Joshua McCullough, readers come face-to-face with the rigors of the wagon-train trek from St. Joseph, Missouri, to the Oregon Territory. Joshua shares the daily routines of wagon train travel, making real the everyday annoyances as well as the life-threatening dangers that are part of the trip. Washing away trail dust that cakes animals' eyes shut, pitching in to replace another family's possessions that spilled into a river, burying those who die along the way from illness or wagon accidents are among the events recounted in Joshua's simply penned, yet compelling entries. This perceptive boy senses a mother's pain over the loss of her children on the trail and, despite others' mistrust and fear, observes, "Indians are a lot like the rest of us." This entry in the My America series will stick in readers' minds and enrich their studies of the era. --Ellen Mandel
