Nine For California [Hardcover]

Sonia Levitin (Author), Cat Bowman Smith (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

"This lighthearted picture book puts a uniquely human face on the Gold Rush era.... Mama and her five kids...leave Missouri to meet Pa in far-off ‘Californ-y,' where he's been working in the gold fields.... balanced with humor, rambunctious read-aloud language and a bounty of factual information about westward travel in the mid-1800s.... A solid-gold nugget of a history lesson." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This lighthearted picture book puts a uniquely human face on the Gold Rush era, one with which any kid who's endured a long car trip will identify. Mama and her five kids, including narrator Amanda and Baby Betsy, leave Missouri to meet Pa in far-off "Californ-y," where he's been working in the gold fields. They join persnickety Mr. Hooper and dainty Miss Camilla in a crowded stagecoach for the 21-day trip. The group groans as Mama insists on bringing a huge, bulging sack that makes the coach all the more cramped. But when her bag of tricks saves the passengers from Indians, a buffalo stampede, robbers and even boredom, everyone stops complaining. Levitin (The Man Who Kept His Heart in a Bucket) crafts a text balanced with humor, rambunctious read-aloud language and a bounty of factual information about westward travel in the mid-1800s. Smith's (Scaredy Dog) characteristically rowdy watercolors are often funny, but they also exude a sweetness and sensitivity to the difficult conditions. And like the text, the illustrations provide clear frontier detail and fun facts, too, such as the "anatomy of a stagecoach" that appears on the back jacket. A solid-gold nugget of a history lesson. Ages 4-9.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3?When Pa writes from the California gold fields to say he's lonely, Ma resolves to take her five children and join him. Young Amanda tells about their 21-day journey west from Missouri, cramped into a stagecoach with three other adult passengers. Levitin has used travelers' journals and letters from the late 1800s to concoct an event-filled adventure. Slowly but surely, Ma's sack full of "everything we'll need" for the trip empties out as its contents saves more than one tense moment from erupting into a disaster. The long route is at times tedious for the travelers, but not so for readers. Every time Amanda begins to become bored, something exciting happens: hungry Indians surround the stage; a torrential rainfall causes it to get stuck in the mud; buffalo stampede toward the coach; and so on. The characters are all well drawn. The language makes the story come alive. The bright, colorful cartoons lend an amused, tongue-in-cheek tone to the story, making this exaggerated, composite narrative almost believable, and distinguishing it from many of the others covering the same experience. Use this book with David Williams's Grandma Essie's Covered Wagon (Knopf, 1993), Eleanor Coerr's The Josephina Story Quilt (HarperCollins, 1995), Karen Ackerman's Araminta's Paint Box (Atheneum, 1990), and Brett Harvey's Cassie's Journey (Holiday, 1988) for a variety of portrayals of the journey westward.?Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531095274
• ISBN-13: 978-0531095270
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #691,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My life is mainly devoted to friends and family, my writing and my home. I enjoy hiking in the mountains, especially with my dogs. You can see their pics on my web page, and also pics of my family andfriends. I like to traveling to interesting places. I've been to Europe, parts of Asia, Hawaii, and many beautiful places in the U.S. My most exciting new project is working with a great team on creating a musical based on my novel The Return. We plan the premier in fall, 2006, and now we're casting and soon going into rehearsal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nine for california review, October 15, 2008

By 

Raychell Lammes "Boogie" (plano, tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nine For California (Hardcover)

We were familiar with this book from having read Boomtown. I spent over a year looking for this book and stumbled on it. My children and I are very happy to have found this funny book and purchased it. The story of the 21 day journey across the U.S. for Amanda and her family is hard to comprehend because travel is so much faster now. Mamma manages to entertain her children and the other passengers during their long trip.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, January 13, 2008

By 

Dr. Joan E. Aitken "author of Interpersonal C... (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nine For California (Paperback)

Stagecoaches were used most from about 1850 to 1890. This simple and amusing story with fun illustrations about a family's stagecoach ride is probably best geared for young elementary. This book would only take minutes to read to any age group, but could introduce more sophisticated math and social studies discussion about population.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars nine for California, May 14, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Nine For California (Hardcover)

Hi, everybody! Do you know why you should read this book? Because it is a whole lot of fun to read and exciting things happen. Mama packs her bags and takes her kids with her to California to meet Papa. The first thing that happens is the baby got sick. Then the buffalo come. Mama says, "Amanda, get the pepper out of my sack and give some to everyone but Baby Betsy!" Then some men come and tried to rob them, but Amanda played her brother's whistle and they went away. I give this story 5 stars!