Monday, February 27, 2012

Book review: Dear America: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory

Dear America: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory (New edition published by Scholastic, April 1, 2012, originally published in 1997)

In the spring of 1847, thirteen-year-old Hattie Campbell and her family leave their home in Missouri to travel west in a covered wagon on the Oregon Trail. Hattie is sad to leave her home and her best friend, as well as the graves of her little sisters who died.

In her diary, Hattie writes of all the hardships her family and others in their wagon train experience. The pioneers face sickness, dangerous river crossings, extreme weather, and much more. Many people do not survive. But despite all the sadness, there is happiness too, as Hattie becomes friends with another girl on the wagon train and begins to fall in love with her new friend's brother.

I first read this book many years ago, when it was first published. I was eleven years old then and absolutely loved it and reread it quite a few times. This book was one of my childhood favorites so I am happy it is back in print again for new readers to discover and enjoy. It's still one of my favorites from the Dear America series and I recommend it to all fans of the series as well as to readers who love historical fiction about pioneers in the old west.
 
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