Gold Rush Girl

Newbery Medalist Avi brings us mud-caked, tent-filled San Francisco in 1848 with a willful heroine who goes on an unintended — and perilous — adventure to save her brother. Victoria Blaisdell longs for independence and adventure, and she yearns to accompany her father as he sails west in search of real gold! But it is 1848, and Tory isn’t even allowed to go to school, much less travel all the way from Rhode Island to California. Determined to take control of her own destiny, Tory stows away on the ship. Though San Francisco is frenzied and full of wild and dangerous men, Tory finds freedom and friendship there. Until one day, when Father is in the gold fields, her younger brother, Jacob, is kidnapped. And so Tory is spurred on a treacherous search for him in Rotten Row, a part of San Francisco Bay crowded with hundreds of abandoned ships. Beloved storyteller Avi is at the top of his form as he ushers us back to an extraordinary time of hope and risk, brought to life by a heroine readers will cheer for. Spot-on details and high suspense make this a vivid, absorbing historical adventure.

Morgan offers an authentic and deliciously humorous account of the prostitutes and other "disreputable" women who were the earliest female pioneers of the Far North.

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. Includes an historical note. Originally published with Scholastic's Dear America series, "Seeds of Hope" shares characters from "Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847."

"She's just a girl!" shouted Windy Bill. When Aurore hears these words, she knows notorious Alaskan bandit Soapy Smith is about to find out everything. How will she get her mother's money back now? How will she expose Soapy and his gang? How will she escape? Aurore, her mother and little brother have set off for Uncle Thibault's lodge in the Yukon after the death of Aurore's father, little knowing they are headed for the Klondike Gold Rush and the adventure of a lifetime. The hardships of the Chilkoot Trail. The roaring rapids of the Yukon River. The grasping greed of Soapy's gang. Aurore must dig deeper, think harder and be braver than she ever thought possible to show Soapy and his gang what a girl-and her new Tlingit friend Louise and a Yukon river boy named Kip-can do. "Well, she outsmarted you!" replied Soapy Smith with a snarl, opening the door to Aurore's hiding place Set in the historic Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, and inspired by a real girl's story, Aurore of the Yukon is an exciting adventure written to both entertain and educate young readers. Part of the MacBride Yukon Kids Series. "Real fun real history!"-Patricia Cunning, MacBride Museum

In yet another previously untold chapter of the gold rush era, Murphy and Haigh have gathered individual stories, vintage photographs, and historic memorabilia to tell what life was like for children in the harsh and sparse gold-mining camps a century ago. Illustrations.

A memoir by Sarah Elizabeth "Sadie" Taylor of life in the Black Hills at the turn of the 19th century.

The lives of ten-year-old Amy and the members of her farming family are changed forever when gold is discovered on Mr. Sutter's land.

Still reeling from the death of her mother, Harriet sets out on a dangerous journey -- disguised as a boy, since no "petticoats" are allowed on the trip -- determined to find her missing father in the gold fields of British Columbia's Cariboo. The journey itself is incredibly difficult, and Harriet still has to find her father before the winter snows close down the entire Williams Creek area. Will she be able to find him, or will her journey be for nothing?

The lives of ten-year-old Amy and the members of her farming family are changed forever when gold is discovered on Mr. Sutter's land.