All the Stars in the Sky: the Santa Fe Trail Diary of Florrie Mack Ryder Review

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(More customer reviews)Twelve-year-old Florrie barely remembers her father, who died when she was very young. Now her mother has remarried, and Florrie's new stepfather, who is a trader, has decided to take his new family to Santa Fe, where he is part owner of a store. Florrie begins her diary as she, her younger brother, mother, and stepfather set out from Missouri on the Santa Fe trail. She describes the hardships they face crossing rivers, mountains, and deserts, but also the joys, as she makes new friends and experiences the wonders of the beautiful wilderness. This wasn't one of the best Dear America books, but it was still very good, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the series. I particularly enjoyed that it covered a subject not written about that much in historical fiction.

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Starting their journey from their home in Missouri, Florrie Ryder and her family are headed towards the promise of a new life in Santa Fe. As they cross the Great Plains of the midwestern prairie, fording rivers and climbing mountains, the Ryders encounter endless hardship as they undertake this great adventure.

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The Fifth Skull: A Historical Novel of the Civil War and the American West Review

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(More customer reviews)There is only one problem with Terrell Garren's writing. You can't stop reading them once you start! This book as with all Mr. Garren's work appeals to me as I live in the same area as my forebearers who served in the War Between the States and their unit is refered to in this work. I also had a WBTS ancestor who died in a Union prison at Rock Island Illinois. The boys in this story are based on actual 17 year olds from Western North Carolina who end up in Camp Douglas, outside Chicago.They became "Galvanized Yankees" to escape torture, starvation, and freezing to death. Once out west they became entangled in the Modoc Indian war with tragic results. There have been a number of books published recently discussing the conditions in Union prisons. Most people think Andersonville when the topic is brought up. But as The Fifth Skull points out the Union prisoners received the same rations as the typical Confederate soldier. Remember the Confederacy was under a Union blockade and could hardly feed themselves. The Union was under no such pressure however the prisoners in Union custody died of malnutrition,exposure,and lack of medical treatment for what reason? I highly recommend this book for WTBS history buffs and folks interested in the old west in the period right after the war.

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A new book by Civil War author and historian Terrell T. Garren is a compelling story of the Civil War, life as a prisoner of war, and one of the most bizarre of America's Indian wars. Garren, author of the regional best-seller, The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western North Carolina, and Moutain Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina, "holds no punches" as he exposes abusive and barbaric acts committed by U.S. Army officers. He says, "This is a story that has long needed to be told." The story follows the lives of two seventeen-year-olds conscripted by Confederate authorities in the last year of the Civil War. The two are sent to Camp Vance in Morganton, North Carolina, as members of the Ninth Battalion, Confederate Junior Reserves. They and the other boys are without weapons or training when the camp is raided by Union soldiers. The two boys are captured and taken to the horrific Union prison at Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois. They endure the hardships of prison life until they are at the breaking point. Eventually they join the Union army's Galvanized Regiments to save themselves, and they end up on the western frontier where fate takes them to California. After serving on the plains and joining the regular army the two are assigned to duty as scouts during the Modoc War in northern California and southern Oregon. Always, they find themselves fighting for their very survival.

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Land of the Buffalo Bones: The Diary of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, An English Girl in Minnesota, New Yeovil, Minnesota 1873 (Dear America Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Land of the Buffalo Bones is the story of Polly Rodgers, a young girl whose father is a Baptist minster who organizes 80 religously persecuted Baptists in Yeovil, England, to colonize the Minnesota Territory in the New Yeovil Colony. Although the advertisments and her father's false words tell of a wonderful and bountiful country, the 80 colonists come upon a surprise when they reach the colony--which isn't built, is covered in snow, and is in the middle of nowhere with no trees or parks or houses or anything of the sort that was promised. After the grueling ship ride over, this hardship is even worse. Soddies are built quickly for the many families, as is one for the Rodgers, since their father is not expected to work with his hands. However, all the land brings is despair. Locusts attack and destroy the crops that the first time at farming colonists grow, Polly's best friend's family is destroyed with the death of the mother and brother and the runaway of her best friend to be married to a Native American. However, the land brings Polly and her step-mother closer together and many of her other family members, despite Laura's constant pesturing. However, even though her father is taken away from his position as minister and the Rodgers must move onto a new colony, they leave happy and together, knowing they will make it.
This diary is based on the author's family, the Rodgers, and was an interesting and treasuring contribution to the series. Although I would recommend Love Thy Neighbor more out of the two new books, this diary was still very good, very unique, and worth you time.

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"Land of the Buffalo Bones" is the diary of Mary Rodgers, known as Polly. Promising religious freedom and fertile land, Polly's father, Reverend Rodgers, moves their Baptist community from England to the Minnesota prairie. After a treacherous journey across the sea and across this country, Polly finds that it is no paradise at all.Written with incredible heart and compassion, insight and sensitivity, Marion Dane Bauer has created one of the most sophisticated and courageous characters DEAR AMERICA has seen.

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