Voices From The Oregon Trail

Voices From The Oregon Trail

Juvenile
Kay Winters' recent Voices from the Oregon Trail is one of the
niftiest introductions our younger readers can get to this chapter in
America's history. It's made up of the thoughts of members of a group
making this pilgrimage together expressed in free verse. There's
Patience, grieving at having to leave the grave of her son. There's
Zebulon who speaks of the extensive preparations his family made.
There's Louisa who meets and marries a young man--at the age girls
start high school these days. Mary loses her toddler son during a
river crossing. Josh scares his sisters with tales of Indians
scalping settlers...
And then there's Chankoowaahtay, a Sioux scout observing the
procession and worrying about the strangers who take more and more of
the resources his people need to survive.
Winters' preparation for writing Voices from the Oregon trail
makes for almost as interesting a story as the book itself. She and
her husband traveled the Oregon trail by car. "We explored forts,
museums, parks, interpretive trail centers, trading posts, and
landmarks. We took pictures, read diaries, heard presentations, asked
questions of the interpreters, saw dioramas, films, artifacts, and
charts. We tried on pioneer clothing, climbed into wagons, sat around
a campfire, heard stories and songs..."
Yowza!
On a personal note, I was overjoyed when my daughter, Amber, visited
me for 7 hours Thursday. It was like a late Mothers Day gift.
A great big shout out goes out to my three children and my future son-
in-law.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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