Sallie Fox: The Story of a Pioneer Girl

This slender volume is based on historical fact, with most incidents painstakingly gleaned from diaries, letters and subsequent interviews with survivors, family members and their descendants. Actual conversations and minor details are fictionalized to provide a smoother account. Bound by historical accuracy, the author has remained faithful in her description of a real wagon train crossing. Although commendable from a researcher's viewpoint, this makes for uneven pacing; after a light-hearted tale for the first 2/3 of the book, we wallow in a veritable disaster scenario all packed in at the end. But then real life does not conform to literary rules. The story of 13-year-old Sarah (Sallie) Fox and her large family provides interesting and enjoyable reading in general. Starting out from Iowa in 1858, they had the benefit of knowledge about the Donner Party's ordeal 12 years prior. They fully realized the dangers of needless delay and possible starvation in the mountains/desert. But this wagon train is atypical, in that the leader drove a huge herd of cattle as well--not just each family's modest contingent of livestock. The dangers and trials of the overland route to California are all too grim and familiar from similar books: heat, drought, river fordings, buffalo hunts, stampedes, Indian raids on livestock and actual attack. All accompanied by the inevitable human elements of birth, courtship, bruised egos, and heated debates over which route to take. No Sierra Nevadas for the Rose party, although their goal was near the Gold country in northern California. They chose the southern route (the Santa Fe Trail) to protect their extensive herd from hostile Indians--plodding their weary, blistering way through New Mexico territory, snaking a path close to the Mexican border. This is an excellent book to introduce middle school children to the ordeals of Wagon Train life. Girls will relate to Sallie's coming-of-age during this Year-long pilgrimage of dust and disaster. Boys will revel i! n the grim and gory adventures, identifying with ourageous youths who sacrificed much of their childhood for their parent's dreams of a new start in the golden west. Readers will realize how the spunk and perseverance of a young girl--to plant a walnut which she found along the sandy trail-- blossomed into more than a mighty tree. From that nut, still alive inside its tough and wrinkled shell, sprang a thriving family business for future generations. This modest book reveals California's hardy heritage from these pioneer children--like their parents seeking a better life; their story can inspire us still.

This book is based on the true story of a 12 year old Iowa girl who traveled west by wagon train in 1858. After many harrowing experiences, including being shot in the torso by an Indian's arrow, Sallie reached her uncle's ranch in Vacaville, CA. This tale of heroism and survival is also filled with the everyday details of life on a wagon train that will make the story come alive for children who read it. Age 10 and up