Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory

There’s lots of tragedy and death in this book, as you might expect from an account of the Oregon Trail. Hattie’s trip across the Oregon Trail never grew old for me, and with each read I grasped some aspect that had alluded me the previous time. Rating: 5/5 I believe Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie was the first Dear America book I owned, and, as a result, it’s the one I’ve read the most. Hattie’s exciting journey to Oregon is one marked by geographic peaks and valleys as well as the peaks and valleys of emotions the pioneers experienced on their grueling trip. The Oregon Trail and Hattie’s fellow pioneers help her to face her fears and emerge a stronger young woman. Such sadness is countered with Hattie’s observations of love, the miracle of new life, and the kindness of people who help each other through desperate times. Hattie’s diary entries tell a story of daily encounters with death: a baby, an old man, river drownings, dead oxen. Reluctantly, Augusta Campbell agrees to join her husband, and Hattie and family find themselves on a wagon train traveling the Oregon Trail. He wanted to leave behind a life in Missouri marked by an increased population, high taxes, and sad memories of young children dead from swamp fever. He dreamed of free land, mild winters, and good soil. Thirteen-year-old Hattie Campbell’s father dreamed of a new life in Oregon. It would be an excellent supplement the 5th grade social studies curriculum study of the Westward Movement.Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, by Kristiana Gregory, was published in 1997 by Scholastic. It is best suited to older elementary students. This is good example of an historical fiction novel. The detail that is used to describe objects, people, and places is excellent and draws the reader into the time period. She shows Hattie’s attitude toward Indians and a black man accurately for the time period and also shows her thinking about whether her attitudes are just. The author has includes photos and a show historical note about the time period. This is an excellent historical fiction book that fives many facts in great detail and accuracy. They reach Oregon City and find they have gained the friendship of many of their fellow emigrants. It takes months and her family has to leave almost all their possessions on the Trail, including their wagon. Hattie also tells about the people in the party in such detail that you feel you know them. She tells of her experiences on the Oregon Trail form the unending dust, insets that get in the food and the bite with out ceasing, crossing rives in wagons, to the extraordinary landscapes the party comes across from time to time. Show More journal of 13-year Hattie Campbell.

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie by Kristiana Gregory