During the late 1800s, many homesteaders were attracted to the middle of the country -- including young Grace McCance and her family. Settling on the lonely, windswept prairie of central Nebraska, they lived in a one-room house, fought off crop-destroying grasshoppers, braved winter blizzards and summertime droughts -- and grew into spirited, self-reliant pioneers. Grace's personal story is skillfully woven into the history of America's great westward migration to create a vivid portrait of childhood on the prairie.
Andrea Warren is a native Nebraskan who has called Kansas home since 1979. Her six books of nonfiction for young readers include "Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story"; "We Rode the Orphan Trains"; "Pioneer Girl: A True Story of Growing Up on the Prairie"; "Escape From Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boyp"; "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps"; and "Under Siege! Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg". Her seventh, "Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London," will be out in 2011.
Warren's books have won a long list of honors, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award,the William Allen White Award, and the Robert F. Sibert Honor Award.
Warren says, "I write true stories about young people caught up in dramatic events. It's an interesting way to learn about history. Readers identify with my main characters and ask themselves, 'If that had been me, what would I have done?'"
