Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl [Hardcover]

Marissa Moss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Young American Voices

In this first book in the Young American Voices series, young Rachel and her family travel by covered wagon following the Oregon Trail from Illinois all the way to California. The terrain is rough and the seven-month trip is filled with adventure--a surprise encounter with Indians, a thunderous buffalo stampede, even the perilous crossing of a flooded river. Rachel's own handwritten journal chronicles every detail and features cherished "pasted-in" mementos--wildflowers, buttons, quilt patches--gathered along the way. Hear Rachel's story in her own words as she and her family make their way to their new home in California.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Marissa Moss, author of the popular Amelia's Notebook series, moves into new territory with Rachel's Journal, the story of a spirited 10-year-old pioneer girl who must leave her childhood home in Illinois and travel by covered wagon to the wilds of California. Rachel is entrusted by her grandfather to chronicle the long journey in the form of a handwritten journal. Through her journal entries, we are transported into a world of new adventures and fearsome challenges as Rachel's family and the others in their wagon train make their way along the Oregon Trail in search of a homestead in the Sacramento Valley.

Rachel is refreshingly unconventional: she dons her brother's shirt and britches when one of the oxen makes "a nice meal" of her only wool dress, learns to crack a whip, and makes friends with a young American Indian brave. Children will delight in the day-to-day accounts of life on the trail, enhanced by the notes and colorful drawings Rachel has added to the journal's margins. Based on real diaries kept by courageous pioneers between 1846 and 1868, Rachel's Journal is an excellent choice for third graders and older, and can also be successfully read aloud to younger children, who will enjoy imagining themselves as pioneering adventurers. An intimate look at a momentous journey, this book will not fail to move and inspire readers of all ages. --Aimée Damman

From Publishers Weekly

Moss extends the format she perfected in Amelia's Notebook and Amelia Writes Again to cover historical fiction in this solidly researched and wholly captivating illustrated diary "by" a 10-year-old girl who travels with her family along the Oregon Trail in 1850. The excitements and hardships of the seven-month journey spring vividly to life, whether Rachel is crossing the eerie, skeleton-strewn Nevada desert by moonlight, trading her long red braids for an Indian pony, eating flour soup when provisions get low, or awakening one morning to greet a new baby sister. Character sketches?of the shiftless Mr. Bridger; the oh-so-perfect Prudence Elias, bane of tomboy Rachel's days; sourpuss Mr. Henry Sunshine, whose wife, Louisa, providentially drops her dentures during a tense encounter with the Pawnee, frightening them away?are a sheer delight, adding depth, texture and, of course, humor. The language is equally colorful. One of the smaller children in Rachel's wagon party, for example, is "no bigger than a bar of soap after a week's wash." Moss shoehorns in an amazing amount of information, giving readers an excellent understanding of life on the trail. Lined sepia-toned pages give the book the look of an antique diary; and, in the style of the Amelia books, hand-lettered text and cleverly captioned thumbnail illustrations with a childlike sensibility add to the authentic feel. This engrossing glimpse of the westward movement is as good a choice for pleasure reading as it is a valuable classroom resource. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 56 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 5th print edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152018069
• ISBN-13: 978-0152018061
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marissa Moss has been telling stories and drawing pictures to go with them for as long as she can remember. She sent her first book to publishers when she was nine, but it wasn't very good and it never got published. She didn't try again until she was a grown-up, but since then she hasn't stopped.

The idea for the first Amelia's Notebook came from the notebook Moss kept when she was a kid. Amelia is a lot like her and the things that happen to Amelia really happened to Marissa (mostly).

Along with Amelia, Moss has created many characters and is especially drawn to history. Historical books allows her to imagine what it's like to be alive in a different place at a completely different time. And then there are the Max Disaster books which allow her to play with scientific experiments, inventions, and comic strips.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like an old, handwritten journal!, September 24, 2001

By 

Charles F. Hamsa (Lafayette, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl (Hardcover)

Moss brings to this book a thoroughly delightful 'hand written' format along with marginal and textual illustrations to dramatize the effect that it is the actual journal of Rachel, a young girl who records her thoughts and observations along the trail. This book should be on the shelves of any family whose proud heritage goes back to those who ventured West to take up roots in the Great American frontier of the nineteenth century. Moss draws her readers into an excitement filled, seven month journey along the famed Oregon trail. The subject has enormous appeal to a wide range of young readers, especially when we approach the years 2004 - 2006, the 200th anniversary of the famed corps of discovery, which started the Westward movement.
Such a book would be a keepsake to pass on to succeeding generations, who often times fail to completely grasp the hardships ancestors had to endure so that they could have a more comfortable life. Part of the author's extensive research included examinations of the unpublished journals collection, covering the years 1846 through 1868, forming part of the collection of Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley.
She succeeded admirably in accomplishing her goal to weave in documented episodes of travel and its dangers along the famed Oregon trail. And others will surely get the flavor of the pioneer spirit within the pages of this truly wonderful keepsake.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Adventure..., March 26, 2000

By 

Melanie (Carlisle, Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl (Hardcover)

This book was quite interesting. It is a story of a young girl, Rachel who is traveling by covered wagon from Illinois to California with her family in the 1850's. She keeps a journal/scrapbook of their adventures/disasters. Her illustrations or "doodles" in this journal were very well done. They clearly defined a great deal of what life was like for any family back then and the courage that they had in order to seek what they thought was going to "better" their way of living.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this Book!, February 21, 2003

By 

StarGymnast (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl (Hardcover)

Just like Marissa Moss' "Amelia" books, this was a hand-written, journal-style book, with lots of pictures. It is the journal of ten-year-old Rachel, who travels with her family of pioneers from Illinois to California in search of a better place to live. In her journal, she records the trip and there are many details! It has humor thrown in, great pictures, and a nice journal format. I've enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to read all of Marissa Moss' other historical journals.