Review by Booklist Review
In the same format as his early-reader histories of the first days of the Revolutionary War (Let It Begin Here! 2008) and the sinking of the Titanic (All Stations! Distress! 2008), Brown here takes a look at the 1849 California gold rush. With easygoing prose and revealing quotes from forty-niners and historians alike, Brown recounts how easterners made their way to California, and once there, how they spent what little money they had on outrageously priced supplies and toiled under harsh conditions to strike it rich. Aside from the grizzled army of prospectors, Brown also shines light on the roles of the few women present and the plight of the California Indians (including an illustration of one being shot in the back). The inventive page compositions and scratchy watercolor cartoon figures carry small, telling dramas (the tiny grin that punctuates a successful panner's face is priceless), and sweeping western landscapes come into full relief, bringing not only visual context but a sense of playfulness to the book. A solid look at an eventful period in American history.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-This colorful book recounts the discovery of gold in the American West circa 1848. From James Marshall's discovery through the treacherous trip by more than 300,000 migrants willing to leave home to try their luck, Brown relates their history through firsthand accounts from the Library of Congress and personal stories of success and failure. The author offers facts and describes experiences to show the arduous travel, toil, and suffering that the forty-niners found at their destination. The full-page pen-and-ink and watercolor artwork surrounds the text nicely with detailed maps and realistic vignettes of the travelers' and miners' lives. The author does not hesitate to reveal the darker side of mining communities. One illustration vividly depicts the shotgun murder of an American Indian, with a description of the tragic fate of many Indians in the goldfields through violence, disease, and enslavement. The book presents a thorough description of a unique period in American history, illustrated in a manner to attract younger readers.-Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Following the success of his other Actual Times history picture books -- Let It Begin Here! (rev. 1/09); All Stations! Distress! (rev. 9/08) -- author-illustrator Brown turns his earthy palette and voice to the California Gold Rush. Well-composed watercolors convey action and emotion, giving just enough detail and variety of backdrops to visually enliven Brown's narrative (although he's forgotten to give the buffalo any grass to graze on). His unique tone is both larger-than-life and precisely detailed, and the treatment suits his subject, as he's able to highlight choice facts and first-hand quotes introducing this period of history (''I paid sixteen dollars for a shovel, eight dollars for a pick, four for a gold pan, and thirty-two dollars for a pair of boots,' remembered one miner of his first experience'). If Brown glosses lightly over the particular hardships endured by Native Americans, Chinese, African Americans, and women, he does include them all in his panoply, more directly than other books out there for this age level ('American Indians [were] killed by diseases carried by the forty-niners, enslaved, and murdered'). There are many other short, illustrated, cartoony books about the Gold Rush for the elementary age range, but this one manages to combine pathos and humor, and to communicate much with an engaging and brief text, making it a first-choice introduction to the subject. (Though sources for quotes are not individually cited, source notes are included.) NINA LINDSAY (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Nonfiction. 8-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
