Chapter Books About Frontier and Pioneer Life

Armstrong, Jennifer. Black-Eyed Susan. (J Ar)
Susie loves living on the South Dakota prairie, but her mother greatly misses their old life in Ohio.

Auch, Mary Jane. Journey to Nowhere. (J Au)
In 1815, while traveling by covered wagon to the wilderness of western New York, Mem is separated from her family.

Blos, Joan W. Brothers of the Heart: A Story of the Old Northwest, 1837-1838. (J Bl)
Shem spends six months in the Michigan wilderness alone with a dying Indian woman, who helps him to survive.

Bohner, Charles. Bold Journey: West with Lewis and Clark. (J Boh)
Private Hugh McNeal relates his experiences accompanying Captains Lewis and Clark on their 1804-1806 expedition.

Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie Woodlawn. (J Classics Br)
The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.

Burks, Brian. Soldier Boy. (J Bu)
A boy from the slums of late nineteenth-century Chicago joins the cavalry and fights with General Custer in the battle of Little Big Horn.

Byars, Betsy. Trouble River. (J By)
A raft is the sole means of escape for a boy and his grandmother when hostile Indians threaten their prairie cabin.

Conrad, Pam. My Daniel. (J Co)
A grandmother tells stories of her brother's historical quest for dinosaur bones on their Nebraska farm.

Conrad, Pam. Prairie Songs. (J Co)
Louisa's life on the Nebraska prairie is altered by the arrival of a new doctor and his beautiful, tragically frail wife.

Couloumbis, Audrey. The Misadventures of Maude Marche, or, Trouble Rides a Fast Horse. (J Co)
After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, eleven-year-old Sallie and her fifteen-year-old sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an adventure resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read.

Cullen, Lynn. Nelly in the Wilderness. (J Cu)
In the Indiana wilderness in 1821, twelve-year-old Nelly Vandorn and her older brother hold fast to their rough frontier ways when their father brings home a fancy new city wife not long after burying their mother.

Cushman, Karen. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. (J Cu)
In 1849, Lucy is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.

Dalgliesh, Alice. The Courage of Sarah Noble. (J Da)
A girl finds the courage to go with her father to build a new home in the Connecticut wilderness and to stay with the Indians when he goes back to bring the rest of the family.

DeFelice, Cynthia C. Bringing Ezra Back. (J De)
In the mid-1800s, twelve-year-old Nathan journeys from his farm on the Ohio frontier to Western Pennsylvania to rescue a friend held captive by the owners of a freak show.

DeFelice, Cynthia. Weasel. (J De)
Alone in the wilderness in the winter of 1839, Nathan runs afoul of the renegade killer known as Weasel.

Edmonds, Walter D. The Matchlock Gun. (J Classics Ed)
In 1756, during the French and Indian War in upper New York state, Edward is determined to protect his family with the ancient, and much too heavy, gun that his father had given him.

Fitzgerald, John D. The Great Brain. (J Fi)
The exploits of the Great Brain of Adenville, Utah are described by his younger brother, frequently the victim of the Great Brain's schemes for gaining prestige or money.

Garland, Sherry. A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence. (J Dear Gar)
Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

Gregory, Kristiana. Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell. (J Dear Gre)
Hattie chronicles her family's arduous 1847 journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail.

Gregory, Kristiana. The Legend of Jimmy Spoon. (J Gr)
The adventures of a young white boy living among the Shoshoni Indians during the early frontier days.

Hahn, Mary Downing. The Gentleman Outlaw and Me - Eli. (J Ha)
In 1887, Eliza, disguised as a boy and traveling towards Colorado in search of her missing father, falls in with a Gentleman Outlaw and joins him in his illegal schemes.

Hermes, Patricia. Calling Me Home. (J He)
Abbie struggles to accept her father's desire to make a new home for his family on the Nebraska prairies of the late 1850s.

Holland, Isabelle. The Promised Land. (J Ho)
Two orphaned Irish Catholic sisters find a home with a kind Protestant couple on the Kansas frontier, but their new life is suddenly threatened by the appearance of their uncle, who is determined to take them back to New York and their "true" religion.

Irwin, Hadley. Jim Dandy. (J Ir)
Living on a Kansas homestead thirteen-year-old Caleb raises a beloved colt and becomes involved in General Custer's raids on the Cheyenne.

Keehn, Sally M. I Am Regina. (J Ke)
In 1755, Regina is kidnapped by Indians in western Pennsylvania, and she must struggle to hold onto memories of her earlier life as she starts to become Indian.

Larson, Kirby. Hattie Big Sky. (J Larson)
After inheriting her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe.

Lawlor, Laurie. Addie across the Prairie. (J La)
Addie reluctantly accompanies her family to the Dakota Territory and slowly begins to adjust to life on the prairie.

Lawlor, Laurie. The School at Crooked Creek. (J La)
Living on the 19th-century Indiana frontier with his parents and irritable older sister Louise, six-year-old Beansie dreads his first day of school, but his resilience surprises even his sister.

Liles, Maurine Walpole. Kitty of Blossom Prairie. (J Li)
Kitty and her family struggle to create a homestead on the prairie in northeast Texas.

Little, Jean. The Belonging Place. (J Li)
Elspet looks back on how she came to be orphaned in Scotland, went to live with relatives, and emigrated with them to a rough but rewarding existence in Canada.

McClung, Robert M. Hugh Glass, Mountain Man. (J Ma)
A fictionalized biography of the legendary hero of the Old West, who as a fur trapper in 1823, survived an attack by a grizzly bear.

MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. (J Ma)
Caleb and Anna's father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home.

MacLachlan, Patricia. Skylark. (J Ma)
A drought tests the commitment of a mail-order bride from Maine to her new home on the prairie. Sequel to Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Major, Charles. The Bears of Blue River. (J Classics Ma)
A pioneer boy growing up in early nineteenth-century Indiana has many adventures and dangerous encounters with bears while learning the ways of the woods.

Moss, Marissa. Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl. (J Mo)
In her journal, Rachel chronicles her family's adventures traveling by covered wagon on the Oregon Trail in 1850.

Murphy, Jim. West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi. (J Dear Mur)
Teresa keeps a diary of her experiences traveling with her Italian American family and other immigrant pioneers to a utopian community in Idaho.

Paulsen, Gary. Mr. Tucket. (J Pa)
While on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped by Pawnee Indians and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.

Rinaldi, Ann. The Second Bend in the River. (J Ri)
Rebecca, a young settler in the Ohio territory, meets the Shawnee Tecumseh and later develops a deep friendship with him.

Roberts, Willo Davis. Jo and the Bandit. (J Ro)
Jo experiences a stagecoach robbery and becomes involved with a reluctant young outlaw aiming to change his ways.

Ruckman, Ivy. In Care of Cassie Tucker. (J Ru)
When her teenage cousin moves in with her family on their Nebraska farm in 1899, Cassie learns a lot, including the meaning of "heathen" and "bigot."

Scieszka, Jon. The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy. (J Sc)
The Time Warp Trio find themselves in the Wild West of yesteryear, rubbing elbows with cowboys and Indians.

Scillian, Devin. Pappy's Handkerchief. (J Scillia)
In 1889, young Moses and his family sell everything they own and leave their Baltimore, Maryland, home to join many other settlers--black and white--in a race to claim land in the newly-opened territory of Oklahoma.

Shaw, Janet. Meet Kirsten, An American Girl. (J America Kirsten Sha)
Kirsten and her family experience many hardships as they travel from Sweden to the Minnesota frontier in 1854.

Shefelman, Janice Jordan. Spirit of Iron. (J Sh)
In mid-nineteenth-century Texas, Mina Jordan turns fifteen, but she is not ready to become the young lady everyone expects her to be.

Sommerdorf, Norma. Red River Girl. (J Sommerd)
In a diary covering the years 1846 to 1848, a young Metis teenager describes her journey from St. Eustace, Que'bec, to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she settles with her family and decides to become a teacher.

Speare, Elizabeth George. Sign of the Beaver. (J Sp)
Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.

Wallace, Bill. Red Dog. (J Wa)
In the Wyoming mountains in the 1860's, twelve-year-old Adam finds his courage put to the test when he is left in charge of the household.

Whelan, Gloria. Once on This Island. (J Wh)
Mary and her older brother and sister tend the family farm on Michigan's Mackinac Island while their father is away fighting the British in the War of 1812. Followed by Farewell to the Island.

Wilkie, Katharine. George Rogers Clark, boy of the Northwest frontier. (J Wi)
Childhood of the explorer and soldier who won the Northwest Territory for the United States during the Revolutionary War.

Wilkins, Celia. Across the rolling river. (J Little Carolin Wil)
Follows the experiences of Caroline Quiner, who will become Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, and her family on their farm on the Wisconsin frontier during the year in which Caroline turns twelve.

Wilson, Diane L. Black storm comin'. (J Wi)
Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.

Wisler, G. Clifton. Jericho's Journey. (J Wi)
Jericho's family makes the long and difficult journey from Tennessee to their new home in Texas in 1852.

Woodruff, Elvira. Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail. (J Wo)
Austin Ives writes letters to his younger brother describing his three-thousand-mile journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Oregon in 1851.

Wyman, Andrea. Red Sky at Morning. (J Wy)
In Indiana in 1909, Callie finds that she must grow up quickly when death and other hardships leave her alone on the family farm with her ailing grandfather Opa.

Compiled by Sarah S. Wright for MCPL Children's Services (4/99).