School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-6-With their attractive covers, abundant illustrations, and accessible texts, these three volumes are visually appealing, but their compactness results in a diminished view of the sweeping story of westward migration in 19th-century America. Each title follows a logical formula: a description of the political, social, and economic climate that prompted Americans to travel into harsh, unknown territory; an account of the hardships and successes they experienced along the way; and a brief overview of the impact these migrations ultimately made on the development of new cities and states. Maps, tinted engravings, and tintype portraits help to establish time and place. Vintage black-and-white photographs provide an interesting contrast to the modern color photographs showing frontier landmarks that the adventurers passed as well as vestiges from their journeys still visible today, such as deep wheel ruts across open prairie. While the narratives are clear and informative, they tend to be dry and impersonal. These are solid entry-level books for students, but more detail and depth-including extensive recollections by the pioneers themselves-can be found in Leonard Everett Fisher's The Oregon Trail (1990), David S. Lavender's The Santa Fe Trail (1995, both Holiday), and Arthur Blake and Pamela Daly's The Gold Rush of 1849 (Millbrook, 1995; o.p.).-William McLoughlin, Brookside School, Worthington, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.