A fictionalized account of the Sager children’s journey on the Oregon Trail.  When their parents both die on the trail, John, the eldest, must assume the care of his 6 siblings, one just a newborn baby.  Determined both to keep his family together, and to reach Oregon, John grows from a sullen, irresponsible boy to a hardworking, determined young man as he works to care for his family and fulfill his father’s dream.

The story of the Sager children is an incredible one.  I’d love to learn more about the true story of these children.  One of the Sager children, Mathilda, wrote an account of their journey to Oregon and their subsequent involvement in the Whitman massacre.  The book can be read online.

The thing I enjoyed most about Morrow’s story was the gentle, all-knowing narrator tone which she adopted.  Parts of the book could be quite overwhelming to children–the death of parents, attacks, starvation, loneliness, etc.  Morrow’s gentle narration makes it seem as if the children weren’t quite so alone.