If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon

First sentence: One hundred and fifty years ago there was no railroad that went all across the country. There were no cars or buses or airplanes. The only was to travel across the country was to ride a horse, or if you went with your family, to travel in a covered wagon. In the 1840s and 1850s, thousands of people traveled West. So if you lived at that time, there was a chance you might have traveled in a covered wagon. This book is about traveling and living in a covered wagon. It tells what it was like to be one of the early pioneers to travel to Oregon.

Premise/plot: What you see is what you get. Each two page spread answers one question. All questions relate to traveling in a covered wagon or traveling west. The questions cover the show more basics and also goes beyond that a bit to more specific, detailed questions. Will it answer every single possible question? Maybe. Maybe not. But it is a great nonfiction book to pair with fiction titles.

My thoughts: I don't remember all the books in this series, but, I know there were a few at least. I loved these kinds of books as a kid. I was so happy to thrift a copy of this one! show less

Great introduction to the topic of going out West for young kids. Informative and easy to read, kids will love it if they like non-fiction, historical works.

I absolutely love this book. This series of books are so helpful and interesting to include in content studies in the classroom. All of Levine's books, help the reader understand what life would be like in all different situations and times in history. These books do a great job grabbing the attention of the reader and teaching important historical information in a fun way. This book focuses on the time in history when settlers were moving West. It discusses the troubles they face such as Indians and running out of supplies as well as life on the Oregon Trail and living in covered wagons. This would be great resource to include in a history lesson about moving West.

Genre: Informational
Critique of Genre: This book was wonderful for covering basic facts about the Oregon Trail. There were big pictures and simple definitions of new vocabulary words that were age appropriate. Sometimes informational books can be overwhelming with dry facts, but this makes the trail come alive!
Age Appropriateness: 5-10

Great book to introduce kids to life on a wagon train. Full of good, factual information, and is written with kids in mind.

978