Product Description

On April 14, 1846, the Donner Party set out from Springfield, Illinois, in search of a better life in the largely unsettled California territory. The trip started well but eventually questionable choices and infighting delayed pioneers' attempt to cross the Sierra Nevada until winter. As the impassable snows closed in and their supplies dwindled to nothing, the group faced an almost hopeless struggle for survival that would push some toward the final taboo of cannibalism. Nearly half the members of the Donner Party were children. This account, filled with selections from the survivors' letters and diaries, focuses on the children's experiences, making it uniquely compelling and accessible to young readers. Index, bibliography, chronology, group rosters, suggestions for further research.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113741 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Calabro's (Operation Grizzly Bear) gripping account of the Donner party's infamous 1846 trek from Illinois to the largely unsettled territory of California chronicles the unfortunate choices, travel conditions and personality conflicts that conspired against the pioneers to leave them stranded in the mountains for the winter. Of the 90 emigrants, teenagers and children comprised almost half of the party and proved the majority of survivors. Calabro incorporates memoirs, diaries and letters to capture the sense of adventure and joy at the start of their journey and to provide insight into the acts of rancor, heroism, cruelty and kindness that surfaced throughout the expedition, mountain imprisonment and rescue. The author conveys much of the experience through the eyes of survivor Virginia Reed, who was 13 when the party headed west; young readers will be particularly moved by her powerful letter at the end of the ordeal, printed here in its entirety. Calabro responsibly tackles the cannibalism that made these settlers an object of horror in their own time and the subject of grisly jokes in our own. By placing the desperate act in context, the author shows the dire circumstances that forced survivors to resort to, in her words, "the last taboo." She includes an insightful epilogue on the survivors, and devotes a chapter to the party's enduring legacy and the ancestors, landmarks and monuments that stand as testimony to both their sacrifice and survival. Maps, pictures, drawings and etchings from museums as well as the author's own collection support the skillful exposition of this horrifying and tragic episode in the history of the West. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 5^-8. The story of the Donner Party, the ill-fated wagon train that faced horrific circumstances on its way to California, is the subject of books, videos, and, now, Web sites. Calabro's offering is a fine addition to the Donner Party canon and particularly well suited to its young audience, for whom the story of hardship and survival will be nothing short of riveting. Calabro wisely chooses to tell her story primarily through the eyes of one of the young emigrants, 12-year-old Virginia Reed. Using a letter Reed wrote to her cousin (reprinted in its entirety at the book's conclusion) as well as other original documentation, Calabro painstakingly traces the Donner Party's journey, from its optimistic beginning in Springfield, Illinois, to its destination in California--after the group had endured death, starvation, and even cannabilism of the fallen. Though never resorting to sensationalism, the book does not skimp on any of the details as the Donner Party finds itself trapped in the Sierra Nevada, with both supplies and hope in short supply. Calabro's research is meticulous. The book comes alive with details about clothing, household items, and, always, the food, even the tiniest morsels. She moves the story into the present with her interviews of survivors' descendants. There is an extensive bibliography as well as a list for further reading, a chronology, and a roster of the dead. Numerous photographs and reproductions of art and artifacts are included. Sometimes a heavily researched book can be dry, but not this one. From the haunting cover with its lonely campfire to the recounting of a survivors' reunion, this is a page-turner. Ilene Cooper

From Kirkus Reviews
A vivid yet even-handed account of the ill-fated Donner Partythe California-bound wagon train that was forced by impassable snow to camp for the winter of 184647 on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, resorting to cannibalism when there was literally nothing else to eat. Calabro neither shrinks from nor sensationalizes this aspect of the story. Instead she places it in a carefully constructed context beginning with the start of the journey in Springfield, Illinois, on April 15, and chronicling each unfortunate decision along the way that ultimately led to the company's entrapment. Making good use of primary sources, especially the letters and memoirs of Virginia Reed, who turned 13 on the journey, the author tells of Virginia's excitement at having her own pony to ride west. However, she doesn't limit the story to Virginia's perspective, but skillfully profiles many members of the party, including Virginia's dynamic father, James, who strongly favored taking an unproven shortcut, and the intelligent and perceptive Tamsen Donner, who was firmly against it. The result is a combination of well-researched factual detail, a gripping narrative, strong characterizations, and a thoughtful analysis of the historical record. (b&w photos, chronology, further reading, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

This too was for my Mom...
My mother wanted to know about the Donner Party, so I bought this along with another book which was from a childs point of view. She enjoyed them both.

Gripping Account of Donners' Journey
This book is a brief account of the families who moved west to claim land in California, only to be rebuffed at the last few hundred miles by topography, thirty (plus) feet of snow, and careless timing. The book reads very easily, and is amply speckled with colloquial diologue of the day, as copied from letters and notes written by those of the Reed/Donner Party who were stranded in the Sierra Nevada snows that winter. That original dialogue is compelling, and evokes a feeling of despair for what those writers must have been witnessing. The account could have included a bit more of the beginning miles of the venture, which may have been better background for the story. Missing particularly was background depth of those who joined the convoy of wagons, livestock and people on foot. Those add-on people became very important players in the final tragedy at Donner Lake, and I was left wondering about them, and why they were taken in by the Reed and Donner travelers. This book is not gruesome, nor as horrifying as some published accounts I have heard about. It is straight forward, and does not over-do nor sensationalize the terrible acts of survival that became the only choice for these pioneers.

Easy Read
Having lived near the Donner area and driven over Donner pass countless times this book was very interesting and enjoyable to read to find out about the lives of the people who risked it all to move west. I highly recomend this book!