Early Western Trails

Books for Readers in the Primary Grades

To order any of these titles, contact the library by email, mail or phone. You may also request these titles online through our OPAC. Happy Reading!

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Bound for Oregon by Jean Van Leeuwen.
RC 42170.
Fictionalized account of young Mary Ellen Todd, whose father decides to move the family from Arkansas to Oregon in 1852. The Todds travel to Missouri where they join a wagon train. On their six-month trip, family members get sick with cholera and are attacked by Indians, and Mary Ellen's stepmother gives birth to a baby boy. For grades 3-6.

Buffalo Days by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith.
RC 46417.
A ten-year-old Crow boy nicknamed Indian is featured in this description of his tribe's attempt to bring back the great herds that existed during Buffalo Days. For grades 3-6.

Cassie’s Journey: Going West in the 1860s by Brett Harvey.
RC 30605.
Cassie and her family are on their way to California in a covered wagon. Cassie keeps a diary in which she records the dangers, hardships, and struggles that they endure on their journey westward. For grades 2-4 and older readers.

Dandelions by Eve Bunting.
RC 41949.
Zoe, her mother and father, and her little sister, Rebecca, are moving to a new home in the Nebraska territory. Papa is excited, and so are Zoe and Rebecca, but Mama just seems to feel lonely. They have a lot of work to do when they arrive at their home site, but nothing seems to make Mama feel happy. Then one day on a trip to town Zoe spots some dandelions and takes them home to Mama. For grades 2-4.

The Golly Sisters Go West by Betsy Byars.
RC 40049 or LP 993.
May-May and Rose Golly know their songs and dances and are all set to head west when their horse refuses to go. Once they learn the right words, they're off. But the two sisters still run into trouble because they get mad at each other over who starts the show and who will wear the blue dress. They get lost and sometimes they're afraid, but when they stop fussing, they have one adventure after another. For grades K-3.

Grandma Essie’s Covered Wagon by David Williams.
RC 44399.
Grandma Essie remembers the time her father loaded up her family and their belongings in a covered wagon and set out from Missouri for a better life out West. She recalls her experiences as a little girl at the turn of the century living on a farm in Kansas, moving to an oil boom town in Oklahoma, and finally returning to Missouri. For grades K-3.

Josepha: A Prairie Boy’s Story by Jim McGugan.
BR 51272 or RC 41047.
Josepha's friend is sad to see Josepha leave school. Josepha, fourteen, is from the old country and can't speak English, so he must sit in the primary row and take the teasing of the older children, but one year is enough, and now Josepha will go to the fields and make a dollar a day. Before Josepha leaves, his friend wants him to know how much he will be missed. But how can he show Josepha? For grades 2-4.

Meet Josephina, an American Girl by Valerie Tripp.
BR 11391 or RC 45561.
In 1824, nine-year-old Josefina lives with her father and three sisters on a rancho near Santa Fe, New Mexico. The girls try hard to take care of things the way Mama did before she died the previous year. When their grandfather comes for a visit, they are surprised by the guest he brings, Tia Delores, their mother's sister. For more books in this series, contact the library. For grades 2-4.

Meet Kaya, an American Girl by Janet Shaw.
BR 14539.
The Pacific Northwest, 1764. When Kaya and her family join other members of the Nez Perce tribe to fish for red salmon, she learns that bragging, even about her swift horse, can lead to trouble. Includes historical notes on the Nez Perce Indians. For more books in this series, contact the library. For grades 2-4.

Meet Kirsten: An American Girl by Janet Shaw.
RC 43751 or LP 50102.
Nine-year-old Kirsten and her family experience many hardships as they travel from Sweden to the Minnesota frontier in 1854. Also available as RC 43751. For grades 2-4.

Meet the Wards on the Oregon Trail by John C. Loeper.
LP 50171.
Recounts the adventures of the Ward family who traveled by covered wagon from Missouri to California along the Oregon Trail in 1853. For grades 3-6.

On the Long Trail Home by Elisabeth J. Stewart.
RC 42414.
A fictionalized account of the author's great-grandmother's escape during the Trail of Tears, the forced march of the Cherokees from their lands in 1838 and 1839. Nine-year-old Meli is on the march with her old grandmother. Her mother and sister have been killed and she doesn't know where the rest of her family is. When Meli sees her brother in another band of captives, the two make a break for freedom. For grades 3-6.

The Oregon Trail: The Diary of Callie Stokes by Myka-Lynne Sokoloff.
LP 50160.
In short diary entries beginning in April, 1846, when the family leaves Independence, Missouri, Callie relates some of the major events during the family’s journey to Oregon where they arrived in late October, 1846. For grades 3-6.

A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 by Barbara Greenwood.
BR 10373.
A year in the life of a fictional family, the Robertsons, shows how pioneers spent their days in the 1840s. Explains how to make maple sugar, what school was like, how the land was cleared and farmed, and much more. Provides projects to give modern-day children a chance to do things the way their ancestors did. For grades 3-6.

Prairie School by Avi.
RC 52740.
When Aunt Dora, a schoolteacher, comes to visit Noah's family in 1880, nine-year-old Noah feels no need to read or write. But Aunt Dora changes his mind by expanding his world while he pushes her wheelchair across the prairie. For grades 2-4.

Rachel’s Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl by Marissa Moss.
RC 48394.
Ten-year-old Rachel's account of her family's journey from their home in Illinois to California in 1850. She describes crossing the muddy Missouri River and the swollen Platte River, the scorching deserts, and the snow-covered Sierra Nevada and the birth of her baby sister, who is named Sierra Nevada. For grades 3-6.

Sacagawea by Jan Gleiter.
BR 50863.
Biography of Sacagawea, who served as a guide to Lewis and Clark. For grades 3-6.

Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cornelia Cornelissen.
RC 48112.
Soft Rain is nine years old in 1838 when soldiers come to move her Cherokee tribe from North Carolina to the West. Soft Rain and her mother are forced to grab belongings and start the journey without Soft Rain's father and brother. For grades 3-6.

The Sweetwater Run: The Story of Buffalo Bill Cody and the Pony by Andrew Glass.
RC 44975.
Thirteen-year-old Will Cody joins the Pony Express with the hope of some time delivering mail on horseback. Although hired as a stablehand, young Will unexpectedly gets the chance one cold November day in 1860 to make a very important mail run. For grades K-3.

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting.
RC 42580.
In 1878, Marianne is one of fourteen orphaned children from New York City being taken out west by train to find families to adopt them. Marianne is older than many of the children and she knows she is not pretty, but she isn't worried. Her mother left her at the orphanage and went west herself a few years ago, and Marianne expects to find her in one of these towns. For grades 2-4.

Wagons West ! by Roy Gerrard.
RC 43130.
Back in 1850, many Americans worked hard to make a living from the barren soil. When Buckskin Dan arrives in town with tales of rich green land in Oregon, a young girl and her family, along with their neighbors, set out for a long journey to a new home with Buckskin Dan as their guide. For grades 2-4.

West by Covered Wagon: Retracing the Pioneer Trails by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent.
RC 42951.
Each year on Memorial Day weekend, a group of people in western Montana takes a wagon-train journey to recapture the spirit of the covered-wagon caravans of the 1800s. The author compares the modern-day journeys with those endured by the earlier travelers. For grades 3-6.

Who’d Believe John Colter ? by Mary Blount Christian.
WOD 527.
A biographical novel examining the life of the 19th-century woodsman John Colter. Describes his experiences accompanying the Lewis and Clark Expedition and, later, as an explorer on his own. For grades 3-6 and older readers.

The Wonder of Bison by Rita Ritchie.
LP 294.
Text and photographs introduce an animal of the Great Plains that gave the early Indians food, clothes, shelter, and tools. Animal Wonders series. For grades K-3.

The Wonder of Black Bears by Beth Karpfinger.
LP 299.
Text and photographs introduce a creature of the North American forest, the black bear. Animal Wonders series. For grades K-3.