khpinson Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I am looking for a good living book about a boy during the pioneer era. I started reading with my 12 year old son, "Little House on the Prairie" and he just wasn't interested, he said "it's a little juvenile mom and about girls" so I am on the hunt for something more appropriate. We have read "Sign of the Beaver" although that is in colonial times. Any help will be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Farmer Boy by Wilder :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody. Autobiography, 1906. We've done the first one as a read aloud & all enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khpinson Posted April 24, 2013 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 Should have mentioned I tried "Farmer Boy" and it was too young for him too, and I have "Little Britches" planned for when he starts his Wild West unit...so....got anymore ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Okay... a Daniel Boone biography, or even his autobiography Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I am looking for a good living book about a boy during the pioneer era. I started reading with my 12 year old son, "Little House on the Prairie" and he just wasn't interested, he said "it's a little juvenile mom and about girls" so I am on the hunt for something more appropriate. We have read "Sign of the Beaver" although that is in colonial times. Any help will be appreciated. "Pioneer" seems to cover the 150 years from 1730s (colonial frontier/pioneers) to the 1880s (ending of the "wild west" pioneers). The term also seems to include several very widely diverging ideas: - Daniel Boone, et.al -- opening of trails and colonial frontier/pioneer lands - interaction with Native Americans - Lewis & Clark -- 1803 exploration triggered many people moving west - "sod-busting" -- actually living on a rural farm - gold fever pushed many to move west/be pioneers with 1849 Gold Rush - the Oregon Trail (1830-1870) - Pony Express (1861-1862) - cattle drives / cattle ranching (1870s-1900s) - Transcontinental Railroad (late 1870s) -- brought more people west; brought civilzation/beginning of the end of Wild West Here's what I could come up that is more geared for a 12yo boy; hopefully something here will hit the time/idea you are looking for: 1750-1800 - Light in the Forest Richter) -- 1760s; colonial Ohio frontier; boy raised by Native Americans has a difficult transition back into his white family/culture 1800-1830 - Diary of an Early American Boy (Sloane) -- 1805; earthfrom a real diary of a 15yo pioneer who made everything - Cabin on Trouble Creek (Leeuwen) -- 1803; 2 pioneer brothers in the wilderness surviving in the clearing for the log house - Brothers of the Heart (Blos) -- early 19th century Michigan frontier life; teen who is lame survives wilderness with the help of an old Indian woman 1830-1860 - The Stout-Hearted Seven (Frazier) -- true story of 7 children orphaned on the Oregon Trail; big brother leads them - (My Name is America series) The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emmigrant on the Oregon Trail -- young teen boy is orphaned on the Trail, but continues to Oregon - Caddie Woodlawn (Brink) -- a more tomboy version of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who had several brothers - Moccasin Trail (McGraw) = pioneer boy brought up by Crow Indians, try to readjust when reunited with his white family; Rocky Mountains area 1860-1880 - Across Five Aprils (Hunt) -- while this book is primarily following the painful split in a large pioneering family, with one brother serving the North, the other the South, much of the book follows the youngest brother, and you get a good sense of the work it took to keep a pioneer / rural farmstead going - Shades of Gray (Reeder) -- post Civil War; while the major theme is the 12yo boy's shame that his uncle was a pacifist and did not fight with the Confederacy, again, there is a fair amount about the farming, trapping rabbits, etc. that was required for pioneers to survive on their land Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Life of Billy Dixon The Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone & How Early Americans Took to the Road They're Off! The Story of the Pony Express The Boy in the Alamo The Journal of Jedidiah Barstow (Oregon Trail) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Worth LaFaye Tucket books (Gary Paulsen) The Haymeadow and Harris and Me also Paulsen, ( mid 20th c. or so, in the 'modern' West, but some things haven't changed much in this part of the world in the last 150 years... ;) ) The Matchlock Gun (pre-Revolution) IIRC, several of the Billy and Blaze books are old west, while the rest are 'modern' west of the 50s or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khpinson Posted April 24, 2013 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 Thank you thank you thank you everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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