Gold Rush Girl by Avi

"San Francisco was set amidst steep, scrubby hills the colour of dead straw, with dusty, sandy dunes an little shrubbery. ... (There was a) muddle of low, wretched, lopsided buildings. These pathetic structures came right down to the water as if they had slid off the hills into a great jumblement."

Times are hard for the Blaisdell family who live in Providence Rhode Island so father declares he will travel to San Francisco where gold has been discovered. Even the US President has declared this land is filled with gold. Surely it will be easy to gather enough gold to restore the family's fortunes. The plan is for father with travel with his young son Jacob while Mother and Victoria (Tory) aged fourteen will join them in a few months.  This plan, however, does not suit young Tory who longs to break away from convention and find adventure.  Her life motto from Jane Eyre is:

Your will shall decide your destiny

Tory contrives a plan to stowaway and travel with her father but she has no idea about the dangers she will meet and her first sight of San Francisco is so very different from the town of her imagination. Then father heads off to the goldfields and Tory and Jacob are left to fend for themselves. This place is filled with crime, gambling, drinking and wild men. Tory does find a way to survive, she is such a resourceful and sensible girl, but then one day Jacob disappears.

Gold Rush Girl was published in 2020 but the paperback has only just arrived here in Australia.

In this video Avi reads chapter 6.

Avi describes his book: 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.

Middle-grade readers will thrill over this swashbuckling adventure  ... Historical Novel Society

A splendidly exciting and accessible historical adventure. Kirkus

His storytelling is rich and visual and will stimulate your senses. Readers will smell the stench of San Francisco — the rotting boats,  street sewage, drunken and sweaty men, and soaked sailcloth tents. They will feel what it’s like to trudge through thick mud and dense fog. Children's Books Heal

This book would be a terrific class read aloud book especially if you are studying the Gold Rush era or teachers might select one or two scenes to read aloud such as when Tory and her new friends finally find Jacob but Tory is confronted by a wild man with a gun and then the ship catches on fire.(Chapter 40 and 41).  

Here are some other books about the Gold Rush ears with Australian and US settings. You might also be able to find a wonderful book called The Rusty Key Adventures by Gary Hurle (sadly long out of print):

Image from To the Goldfields by Rachel Tonkin (published 1999)

Here are some other books by Avi:

The Button War

The Book without Words

I first discovered US author Avi through is Poppy book series. 

My February Reading Pile

 

This post is a little late and I have actually started (or even finished) a few of the books on my February book pile (middle grade).

Advance copies - thanks to Beachside Bookshop

 Crook Haven: The School for Thieves by J.J. Arcanjo Hodder Due for release March 2023

Publisher blurb: 13-year-old Gabriel is a brilliant pickpocket, a skill which he uses to keep his often empty belly not quite so empty. And then one day, he's caught. But instead of being arrested, he is invited by the mysterious Caspian Crook to attend Crookhaven - a school for thieves. At Crookhaven, students are trained in lock-picking, forgery and 'crim-nastics', all with the intention of doing good out in the world, by conning the bad and giving back to the innocent. But ... can you ever really trust a thief? With a school wide competition to be crowned Top Crook and many mysteries to uncover, Gabriel's first year at Crookhaven will be one to remember...

I am up to page 197 of 313 pages and I am thoroughly enjoying this book. It will greatly appeal to fans of Harry Potter. In fact if someone out there is writing their PhD thesis on books with plot lines that are either reminiscent or derivative of good old Harry Potter then I suggest you add this book to your reading pile. Having said that I am not usually a fan of school for wizards stories but this one is actually very engrossing, inventive and clever. I will talk in detail about this book, the first in a planned series by a debut author, later this week.

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King Walker Books released February 2023.

I have already finished this one - read more here.

Running with Ivan by Suzanne Leal A&R released February 2023

Publisher blurb: Thirteen-year-old Leo Arnold hates his life. He doesn't want a new school, a new house or a new family. And he definitely doesn't want to be sharing a room with his new stepbrother, Cooper. What Leo wants is to be somewhere else, far away. So when he uncovers an old music box and turns the key, he is astonished to find himself in Prague, surrounded by whispers and fears of a second world war. A war that ended decades ago. In Prague, Leo meets Ivan, a Czech boy, and the two become friends. But when World War Two finally erupts, the unimaginable becomes real and the boys are imprisoned. Fearing the worst, Leo and Ivan frantically search for an escape. A search that sends them running. Running against time. Running for their lives.

I am always interest in reading books set during World War II but I am not a huge fan of time slip so I will be interested to see how this book transitions from the present to the past. 

Fritz and Kurt by Jeremy Drondfield illustrated by David Ziggy Greene Puffin due for release January 2023.

Publisher blurb: When everything is taken away from you, love and courage are all you have left. In 1938, the Nazis come to Vienna. They hate anyone who is different, especially Jewish people. Fritz and Kurt's family are Jewish, and that puts them in terrible danger. Fritz, along with his father, is taken to a Nazi prison camp, a terrible place, full of fear. When his father is sent to a certain death, Fritz can't face losing his beloved Papa. He chooses to go with him and fight for survival. Meanwhile, Kurt must go on a frightening journey, all alone, to seek safety on the far side of the world. In this extraordinary true story, Fritz and Kurt must face unimaginable hardships, and the two brothers wonder if they will ever return home . . .

I have started this book but knowing it is about the holocaust (based on a an adult book The Boy who followed his Father into Auschwitz) I am sure reading this true life account will take some courage. I already know I would pair this book with The Happiest Boy on Earth: The incredible story of The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku. I will talk about this important and very moving book later in the year. It is a new Australian picture book.

Books I purchased for February (see list below of completed books too):

Gold Rush Girl by Avi 

I am a huge fan of Avi - I loved the Poppy book series. Gold Rush Girl (2020) has been on my book shopping list for a long time.  Kirkus said this book is: A splendidly exciting and accessible historical adventure.

Blurb: 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.

Without even opening this book I know I would pair it with The Ballad of Lucy Whipple.

Borrowed from the library:

Greenglass House by Kate Milford 

Blurb: New York Times Bestseller * National Book Award Nominee * Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again... Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.

I have already started this one. I do enjoy books set in hotels and this one seems to be quite an intriguing and atmospheric mystery. 

This month I have also read:

Cop and Robber by Tristan Bancks

The Lorikeet Tree by Paul Jennings

The Girl who talked to Trees by Natasha Farrant illustrated by Lydia Corry

Finally in a few days I will talk about this splendid poetry book.  I have borrowed it from a friend but now I think I might need to purchase my own copy! Nosy Crow always deliver such beautifully designed books - this one even has one of those book mark ribbons.

Bed Time by Accabre Huntley

Can I stay up five

minutes more let me

finish this book

Can't I finish this

castle

Can't I 

stay up

five minutes or four

three minutes or two

minutes one minute more.

Night Ride into Danger by Jackie French

"A mystery man with pistols, a married lady not so much fat as expecting, a senorita who might not be Spanish at all."

The year is 1874. The Cobb and Co coach must make sure the mail gets to the train on time. The coach is travelling at night from Braidwood in NSW to Goulburn. This night ride costs each passenger double the day time rate.  It's a fourteen hour journey over rough roads and so it is very uncomfortable. People take this ride because they want to catch the train to Sydney and the train will not wait. The coach must arrive in Goulburn on time. Jem is the coach driver's son and onboard are a very odd assortment of characters. A young Chinese man; a large-sized lady and her husband - Mr and Mrs Pickles; two Spanish sisters who are performers; and a man with a huge carpet bag and those two pistols. This man calls himself John Smith and he demands and pays to ride up front with the driver and his son. The coach is set to go with six passengers and those all important mail bags.

It's a night journey and its a rush. There are plenty of hazards along the way - floods, fog, fallen trees, rivers to cross, kangaroos not to mention the possibility of bushrangers. When Paw is hurt Jem has to take over the driving of the coach which has five strong horses. This is a huge challenge for Jem but he is in for other surprises - a baby and, as you have guessed, a bushranger.

As usual Jackie French brings Australian history to life. I especially loved the river crossing scene when they discover the Shoalhaven River is higher than expected and the bridge has not yet been built. In this scene the passengers have to climb out of the coach. The men take off their clothes down to their "woollen combinations, buttoned up ... and reaching to their wrists and ankles." Luggage, mail and the women are loaded into a large wooden washtub. Paw and Jem lead the horses carefully across the river. They need to make several trips with the washtub and remember it is night and the water is cold and those women are wearing long skirts and layers of petticoats. 

The back of the book has detailed history notes and two poems by Henry Lawson. This book will be an excellent, indeed I think it is an essential, addition to every Australian Primary school library. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy of this book which is due out tomorrow.

The only thing I would have liked to see with this book is a map.  Here is one I found and also a photo of a Cobb and Co coach.

Image Source Captains Flat

Image Source Loaded Dog Hotel

You will want to find other books about bushrangers from the Gold Rush era. There will be lots of books about Ned Kelly but there were many other famous bushrangers. You are sure to find some of these books in most Primary school libraries:

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman

"Mama and Pa had long dreamed of going west, even to naming their family for western places: me, the first California Morning Whipple; then Butte, Prairie, Sierra, Golden Promise, the lost baby Ocean and Rocky Flat the dog." Before they set off Pa and Golden have died of pneumonia.

The year is 1850. Ma, Arvella Whipple, takes her family across America from Massachusetts to California in search of a new life and the fortunes promised by gold. When they arrive the first thing her oldest daughter insists on is changing her name to Lucy. It would surely be odd to have the name California in California.

"What an unfortunate name. No one in any book I ever read was called California. I never paid much attention to my name back home. It was a place, a passion, a promise. It was a name that caused people to notice me, talk to me, remember and expect things. It was in no way the right name for me."

The strength of this book comes from the honesty of Lucy herself and the vivid sense of place created by Karen Cushman.

Here are a few text quotes from the letters Lucy writes to Gram and Grampop in Massachusetts:

"There is no school and no lending library, no bank, no church, no meeting house, no newspaper, no shopping or parties of picnics, no eggs, no milk and worst of all no Gram and Grampop ... "

"  ... some miners are thieves and drunkards, men of bad habits and worse disposition; others can be counted as the finest folk on God's green earth. I'm sick of them all - dirty boots and dirty sheets, loud voices and big appetites."

"I am a stranger in a land where they even speak a different language full of derns and dings and have you a pick-axe about your clothes? ... I was wishing Pa was here, but he's not and I am. I am bodaciously sorrow-burdened and wretched!"

"If you see my former teacher, Miss Charlotte Homer of Reedsville, kindly inquire if she might send me a book. I am sick to death of Ivanhoe and Mr Scatter's Bible, and there is not another book in these mountains."

"All of a sudden I am grown mighty popular and it is all due to the box of books from Miss Homer. Men I have never spoken to this whole year come up to me, hat in hand, and say,  'Excuse me entirely little sister, but I hear you might have books for borrying."

Lucy has three rules for her books - she gets to read them first, no tobacco stains and don't pass the book on - return it first. She has to abandon this last rule because everyone breaks it but the books do eventually come back and some contain surprises.

You can read Chapter One and Chapter Two here.

Just over a year ago I attended the USBBY Conference at the University of Washington in Seattle. On the first evening at the dinner event the organisers showcased local authors and illustrators from Washington. There were twelve who shared their work in a series of brief presentations and then each author/illustrator sat at a different table.  I was so lucky to sit with Karen Cushman. I have loved her books for such a long time. Sitting nearby was Laurie Ann Thompson and I was delighted to tell her how much my students had appreciated her powerful book Emanuel's Bicycle.

After talking with Karen Cushman I knew I wanted to re-read her books. Luckily Seattle have a number of terrific second hand bookshops so I easily found a copy of The Ballad of Lucy Whipple which was first published in 1996. I read this book in 1997 but so much of the story had lingered with me - such is the power of this writing.  A movie was made for television with Glenn Close in 2001.  The Ballad of Lucy Whipple would make an excellent addition to your school library and will be enjoyed by readers aged 10+.

Here are some other covers:

It is hard to imagine having to live under the conditions described in this exceptional book and yet women and children did indeed have to live in places like Lucky Diggins. This is a marvelous tribute to their courage, their creativity, and their determination to make a go of things no matter what. It is also a tribute to all those brave souls who have dreams and who are not afraid to pursue them. Through the Looking Glass Children's book Reviews

Esty's Gold by Mary Arrigan

There is a perfect little philosophical statement towards the end of this well written and well researched historical novel Esty’s gold by Mary Arrigan : “It’s a funny thing about life : one moment you can be in the depths of despair and the next you are working a new plan to make things better.”

Esty is living through the Irish potato famine and while her family are not farmers and she herself is not starving, the impact of these terrible events is nevertheless devastating. Early in this story Esty (short for Esther) befriends a young starving girl called Brigid only to witness her quiet death as they sit together outside Esty’s home.

Following the death of her own father, he works for the land owner as a tax collector, Esty herself is sent into service. Here she makes real friends and learns important life lessons. Having the rare skill of literacy, she reads all about the discovery of gold in Australia and so when an offer is made to send her mother and grandfather to America she persuades all concerned that instead they should head to Australia.

This story is told in two parts. Life in Ireland and life on the Goldfields. I especially liked the way Arrigan made the transition between the two times. She didn’t labour over the journey to Australia but just filled us in gradually, through Esty’s eyes, as she journey’s to the goldfields encountering prospectors, and bushrangers along the way. The characters and relationships in this story will stay with me for a long time. This is an excellent book for senior Primary students even though the publisher’s web site lists it as suitable for 12-15 year olds. I had to keep reminding myself the author is Irish and lives in Ireland because the second half of the book in the goldfields feels very authentic.

If you need an accessible way to explain the politics of Ireland in 1850s and the politics of the Eureka Stockade in Australia this is the perfect little novel.