Winters, Kay Voices from the Oregon Trail. Illustrated by Larry Day. Unpaged. 2014. Dial Books for Young Readers (imprint of Penguin Group). $17.99. Picture book.
In this historical picture book, each spread shares some thoughts from a member of a wagon train company, most of whom are moving to Oregon with dreams of a better life, with the one exception being some thoughts from a Native American whose lands these travelers are traversing. Through the travelers' words, the reader learns about some of the reasons why people chose to undertake such a long and dangerous journey, and some of the hardships and joys they encountered along the way. The endpapers feature a map of the Oregon Trail and portraits of those whose voices we hear. Almost three pages of historical notes at the end of the book offer nonfiction information about this six-month trip along the Oregon Trail that thousands took before trains reduced the travel time to a week.
Students may need to make a diagram for themselves to keep all the relationships and responsibilities among the company straight, but each vignette offers insightful glimpses into people's lives from this period in our country's history, while the information at the end offers some excellent historical content.
EL - ADVISABLE. Reviewed by: PKFoster, teacher-librarian.
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