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United States, 1800's 
California & Western Expansion
Chapter Books (J Fiction) -- Grades 3-8
ACROSS THE WIDE AND LONESOME PRAIRIE
Series Title: Dear America
by Gregory, Kristiana
J FICTION GRE
Subtitle: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, Oregon Trail, 1847
In her diary, 13-year-old Hattie chronicles her family's arduous 1847 journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail.
ALL THE STARS IN THE SKY
Series Title: Dear America
by McDonald, Megan
J FICTION BAR
Subtitle: The Santa Fe Trail Diary of Florrie Mack Ryder, The Santa Fe Trail, 1848
A girl's diary records the year 1848 during which she, her brother, mother, and stepfather traveled the Santa Fe trail from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe.
ARAMINTA'S PAINT BOX
by Karen, Ackerman
When her family moves from Boston to California in 1847, Araminta and her paint box become separated, but through a series of new owners, the paint box finds its way to California.
BAG OF LUCKY RICE
by Reichart, George
Rusty, an old prospector, and Lo Fat and Lee, a Chinese father and son living in the small mining town of Rhyolite, Nevada, become friends and share the excitement of finding gold in the Amargosa Desert.
BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE
by Cushman, Karen
In 1849, 12-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.
BALLOON BOY OF SAN FRANCISCO
by Leland, Dorothy
In 1853, a San Francisco newspaper boy struggles to support his family. An encounter with a hot-air balloon brings adventure and opportunity.
BANDIT'S MOON
by Fleischman, Sid
12-year-old Annyrose relates her adventures with Joaquin Murieta and his band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during the mid-1800s.
BARN
by Avi
In an effort to fulfill their dying father's last request, 9-year-old Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory in 1855.
BLACK STORM COMIN'
by Wilson, Diane
12-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.
BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON!
by Fleischman, Sid
The story of a young boy who lives with his proper Bostonian aunts and their very correct butler. When their money runs perilously low, the boy and the butler stow away on a ship bound for the gold fields of California in 1849 and have many adventures.
CABALLO LLAMADO LIBERTAD
by Ryan, Pamela Munoz
A fictionalized account of Charley (Charlotte) Parkhurst who ran away from an orphanage, posed as a boy, moved to California, and fooled everyone by her appearance. Also available in English as RIDING FREEDOM.
Case of the Dealy Desperados
by Lawrence, Caroline
J FIC LAW
In 1862 Nevada Territory, after finding his foster parents murdered and scalped, 12-year-old Pinky Pinkerton, son of a railroad detective and a Sioux Indian, inherits a valuable deed and must hide from dangerous Whittlin Walt and his gang of desperados.
DAUGHTER OF MADRUGADA
by Wood, Frances M.
After the U.S. wins the war with Mexico in 1848, life on her Mexican family's ranch in California is greatly changed for 13-year-old Cesa.
DESPERADO WHO STOLE BASEBALL
by Ritter, John
J FICTION RIT
In 1881, the scrappy, rough-and-tumble baseball team in a California mining town enlists the help of a quick-witted 12-year-old orphan and the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid to win a big game against the National League Champion Chicago White Stockings.
Prequel to BOY WHO SAVED BASEBALL
DRAGON'S GATE
by Yep, Laurence
When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a 15-year-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle, and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867.
GREAT RAILROAD RACE
Series Title: Dear America
by Gregory, Kristiana
J FICTION GRE
Subtitle: The Diary of Libby West, Denver, 1868
As the daughter of a newspaper reporter, 14-year-old Libby keeps a diary account of the exciting events surrounding her during the building of the railroad in the West in 1868.
I'M SORRY, ALMIRA ANN
by Kurtz, Jane
8-year-old Sarah's high spirits help make her family's long journey from Missouri to Oregon more bearable, though they do cause both her and her best friend Almira Ann some problems.
ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS
by O'Dell, Scott
Records the courage and self-reliance of an Indian girl who lived alone for 18 years on an isolated island off the California coast when her tribe emigrated and she was left behind.
JOURNAL OF AUGUSTUS PELLETIER
Series Title: My Name is America
by Lasky, Kathryn
J FICTION LAS
Subtitle: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, Western America, 1804
A fictional journal kept by 12-year-old Augustus Pelletier, the youngest member of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery.
JOURNAL OF BRIAN DOYLE
Series Title: My Name is America
by Murphy, Jim
J FICTION MUR
Subtitle: A Greenhorn on an Alaskan Whaling Ship, The Florence, 1874
In 1874, Brian Doyle records in his diary how he ran away from his home in San Francisco, joined the crew of a whaling ship, and endured storms, hostile shipmates, and being stranded in the Arctic.
JOURNAL OF DOUGLAS ALLEN DEEDS
Series Title: My Name is America
by Philbrick, W.R.
J FICTION PHI
Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds: The Donner Party Expedition, 1846
Douglas Deeds, a 15-year-old orphan, keeps a journal of his travels by wagon train as a member of the ill-fated Donner Party, which became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846-47.
JOURNAL OF JEDEDIAH BARSTOW
Series Title: My Name is America
by Levine, Ellen
J FICTION LEV
Subtitle: An Emigrant on the Oregon Trail: Overland, 1845
In his 1845 diary, 13-year-old orphan Jedediah describes his wagon train journey to Oregon, in which he confronts rivers and sandy plains, bears and rattlesnakes, and the challenges of living with his fellow travelers.
JOURNAL OF WONG MING-CHUNG
Series Title: My Name is America
by Yep, Laurence
J FICTION YEP
Subtitle: A Chinese Miner, California, 1852
A young Chinese boy nicknamed Runt records his experiences in a journal as he travels from southern China to California in 1852 to join his uncle during the Gold Rush.
KATIE AND THE MUSTANG
Series Title: Hoofbeats
by Duey, Kathleen
Orphaned at age six and taken in by a heartless couple, nine-year-old Katie Rose spends her days doing chores and dreaming of going west to find her Uncle Jack. Then Mr. Stevens brings home an unbroken Mustang, and Katie's world changes. 4 books in the series.
LETTERS FROM THE CORRUGATED CASTLE: A NOVEL OF GOLD RUSH CALIFORNIA
by Blos, Joan W.
A series of letters and newspaper articles reveals life in California in the 1850's, especially for 13-year-old Eldora, who was raised in Massachusetts as an orphan only to meet her influential mother in San Francisco, and Luke, who hopes to find a fortune in gold. Companion novel to GATHERING OF DAYS.
MEET JOSEFINA
Series Title: American Girls
by Tripp, Valerie
Nine-year-old Josefina, the youngest of four sisters living in New Mexico in 1824, tries to help run the household after her mother dies.
1. Meet Josefina
2. Josefina Learns a Lesson
3. Josefina's Surprise
4. Happy Birthday, Josefina
5. Josefina Saves the Day
6. Changes for Josefina
ONE-EYED CHARLEY: THE CALIFORNIA WHIP
by Reinstedt, Randall A.
A guest speaker tells the students in the one-roomed Manchester School about the rough mining days in California's past, and in particular, about the career of a stagecoach driver known as Charley Parkhurst.
ORPHAN RUNAWAYS
by Gregory, Kristiana
In the late 1800's, harrowing adventures accompany 12-year-old Danny and his younger brother Judd when they run away from a San Francisco orphanage and search for their uncle (who is involved with a Chinese woman) in a gold rush boomtown.
OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA
by Holm, Jennifer
As the only girl in a Finnish-American family of 7 brothers, May Amelia resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899. Inspired by the diary of the author's Finnish-American grandmother.
PERFECT PLACE
Series Title: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary #2
by Hermes, Patricia
J FICTION HER
Late in 1848, 9-year-old Joshua McCullough starts a second journal, this time recording events in Willamette Valley, Oregon Territory, as his family and others they met on the trail begin to get settled.
RACHEL'S JOURNAL: The Story of a Pioneer Girl
Series Title: Young American Voices
by Moss, Marissa
J FICTION MOS
In her journal, Rachel chronicles her family's adventures traveling by covered wagon on the Oregon Trail in 1850.
RIDING FREEDOM
by Ryan, Pamela Munoz
A fictionalized account of Charley (Charlotte) Parkhurst who ran away from an orphanage, posed as a boy, moved to California, and fooled everyone by her appearance. Also available in Spanish as CABALLO LLAMADO LIBERTAD.
RIDING THE FLUME
by Pfitsch, Patricia
In 1894, 15-year-old Francie determines to fight the lumbermen and protect the largest Sequoia tree ever seen, which had been given to her sister just before her death six years earlier.
SEEDS OF HOPE
Series Title: Dear America
by Gregory, Kristiana
J FICTION GRE
Subtitle: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild, California Territory, 1849
A diary account of 14-year-old Susanna Fairchild's life in 1849, when her father succumbs to gold fever on the way to establish his medical practice in Oregon after losing his wife and money on their steamship journey from New York.
STOWAWAY: A TALE OF CALIFORNIA PIRATES
by Gregory, Kristiana
In 1818, Carlito, an 11-year-old boy in the Spanish-owned town of Monterey, California, sees his quiet life threatened when the Argentinian privateer Hippolyte de Bouchard attacks with his pirate ships.
TREASURE IN THE STREAM: THE STORY OF A GOLD RUSH GIRL
by Hoobler, Dorothy
The lives of 10-year-old Amy and the members of her farming family are changed forever when gold is discovered on Mr. Sutter's land in California, 1848.
VALLEY OF THE MOON
Series Title: Dear America
by Garland, Sherry
J FICTION GAR
Subtitle: The Diary of Maria Rosalia de Milagros, Sonoma Valley, Alta California, 1846
The 1845-1846 diary of 13-year-old Maria, servant to the wealthy Spanish family which took her in when her Indian mother died. Includes a historical note about the settlement and early history of California.
WALK ACROSS THE SEA
by Fletcher, Susan
In late 19th-century California, when Chinese immigrants are being driven out or even killed for fear they will take jobs from whites, 15-year-old Eliza Jane McCully defies the townspeople and her lighthouse-keeper father to help a Chinese boy who has been kind to her.
WEST TO A LAND OF PLENTY
Series Title: Dear America
by Murphy, Jim
J FICTION MUR
Subtitle: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi, New York to Idaho Territory, 1883
While traveling in 1883 with her Italian American family (including a meddlesome little sister) and other immigrant pioneers to a utopian community in Idaho, 14-year-old Teresa keeps a diary of her experiences along the way.
WESTWARD TO HOME
Series Title: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary
by Hermes, Patricia
J FICTION HER
In 1848, 9-year-old Joshua Martin McCullough writes a journal of his family's journey from Missouri to Oregon in a covered wagon. Includes a historical note about westward migration.
WILD YEAR
Series Title: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary
by Hermes, Patricia
J FICTION HER
In this book, Joshua's diary comes to an end with stories of life in Oregon, his sister lost in the woods, and Joshua starting school.
ZIA
by O'Dell, Scott
A young Indian girl, Zia, caught between the traditional world of her mother and the present world of the Mission, is helped by her aunt Karana, whose story was told in the Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Books for Teens (YA Fiction)
BEYOND THE DIVIDE
by Lasky, Kathryn
In 1849, a 14-year-old Amish girl defies convention by leaving her secure home in Pennsylvania to accompany her father across the continent by wagon train.
BOSTON JANE: AN ADVENTURE
by Holm, Jennifer
Schooled in the lessons of etiquette for young ladies of 1854, Miss Jane Peck of Philadelphia finds little use for manners during her long sea voyage to the Pacific Northwest and while living among the American traders and Chinook Indians of Washington Territory.
BOSTON JANE: WILDERNESS DAYS
by Holm, Jennifer
Far from her native Philadelphia, Miss Jane Peck continues to prove that she's more than an etiquette-schooled graduate of Miss Hepplewhite's Young Ladies Academy as she braves the untamed wilderness of Washington Territory in the mid-1850s.
(Sequel to: BOSTON JANE: AN ADVENTURE)
