In het Amerika van 1844 trekken zeven kinderen onder aanvoering van hun 13-jarige broer naar het veelbelovende, onontgonnen Westen. Tijdens deze tocht moeten zij, evenals veel andere pioniers, grote gevaren doorstaan.

For this once child reader a seminal introduction to the Great American Narrative. How surprising, then, to find that few of my US friends know it. Achingly raw, powerfully narrated, as a previous reviewer indicates, this should be a must read for those who wish to encounter the victory of determination over hardship that is rightly or wrongly the subtext of settler mythos. ( )

It seemed obvious to me that this book, on the list of 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read, was a book I should take along on my trip to Oregon.

But the mail can be stubbornly slow at times. This was one of those times. The book didn’t arrive until I returned from Oregon.

Glad it did. I don’t think I could stand to be driving around in the air conditioned comfort of a rental car, stopping to eat at four-star restaurants, and staying in luxurious hotels while reading this book, a story based on true events, a story that takes place in the same setting, with a family who travel the same path, but with parents who die on the trail of fever, and with the seven children, one of whom is a newborn baby, who travel on alone after their parents’ deaths, on foot, through rain and snow, shooting animals for food, searching for clean water, fighting off bears.

Whew. Makes Wild, a book that is partially set in the same location, seem like a day in the park. ( )

Een van de favorieten uit mijn boekenkast is dit boek wel. Wezen die in Amerika in de 19e eeuw een zware tocht door de bergen (Oricon trail)) maken op weg naar familie. Ze trotseren allerlei gevaren.
Vond het als kind bewonderenswaardig en moedig hoe ze de moed hadden om hun zware tocht te volbrengen