Following the lives of Molly and David, the 'young pioneers' who embark upon a journey to the West, this novel is a story of spiritual strength and family unity in the face of difficulty and hardship. Molly and David played together as children and said they would get married as soon as they were old enough. And sure enough, when she was sixteen and he two years older, they married, and together they set out for the West, where the country had not yet been settled and they might find good land to farm. David's father gave them a team of horses, a wagon and his blessing; Molly's parents gave blankets and pillows, a ham and a cheese and some maple sugar, a pot and a pan and a skillet, and a copy of Tennyson's Poems. With David's gun and fiddle, and Molly's needles and thread, they had all they needed. Snug in the dugout under the prairie, their baby boy was born on Molly's seventeenth birthday. Soon the wheat was ripe and high and full of promise for the baby's future, a future that would be warm and safe and bright. The grasshoppers wiped out that promise. Within two days there was no wheat left - no crop, no money, no horses, and no way of providing against the bitter winter. Simply and vividly told, this story grew out of real experience. This is a novel which has moved and fascinated readers for more than fifty years, and has been translated into twenty languages.

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn New York craftsman whose impoverished life was electrified by the Mormon faith. Turner provides a fully realized portrait of this spiritual prophet, viewed by followers as a protector and by opponents as a heretic. His pioneering faith made a deep imprint on tens of thousands of lives in the American Mountain West.

From the Diary ofAnne Frank to Anne of Green Gables, young women love to read stories about real girls who faced incredible challenges and shared indelible truths about the human spirit. Jan Cleere has compiled a wonderful collection of such stories, for a wide range of readers from ten-year-old girls to older readers fascinated by women’s history. Meet Laurette Lovell, born in 1869 with a severe leg deformity, who at age thirteen started on her path to be a renowned pottery artist and painter. Edith Bass, born in 1896, began wrangling mules before the age of nine, leading pack strings up and down the dangerous paths into the Grand Canyon. These two young women, and nine others, are profiled magnificently alongside historic photographs. Today’s readers love to read bold adventures. They’ll never forget these stories of real girls who conquered the West in their own style, spending most or all of their childhood in Arizona. Jan Cleere is a historical researcher and the author of More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Nevada Women, among other books. She lives in Oro Valley, Arizona.

-- Mark Greif, Times Literary Supplement

When the young Swedish-descended Alexandra Bergson inherits her father's farm in Nebraska, she must transform the land from a wind-swept prairie landscape into a thriving enterprise. She dedicates herself completely to the land—at the cost of great sacrifices. O Pioneers! [1913] is Willa Cather's great masterpiece about American pioneers, where the land is as important a character as the people who cultivate it. WILLA CATHER [1873-1947] was an American author. After studying at the University of Nebraska, she worked as a teacher and journalist. Cather's novels often focus on settlers in the USA with a particular emphasis on female pioneers. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the novel One of Ours, and in 1943, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A young pioneer couple homesteading in the Dakotas are beset with hardships and misfortune.

The #1 New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that’s “as resonant today as ever” (The Wall Street Journal)—the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country. As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River. McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people. Like so many of McCullough’s subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them. Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, The Pioneers is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments. This is a revelatory and quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.

Tracing the vivid saga of Native American and pioneer men, women, and children, this guide covers the colonial beginnings of the westward expansion to the last of the homesteaders in the late 20th century. Dozens of firsthand accounts from journals and autobiographies of the era form a rich and detailed story that shows how life in the backwoods and on the prairie mirrors modern life in many ways--children attended school and had daily chores, parents worked hard to provide for their families, and communities gathered for church and social events. More than 20 activities are included in this engaging guide to life in the west, including learning to churn butter, making dip candles, tracking animals, playing Blind Man's Bluff, and creating a homestead diorama.

A SYDNEY TAYLOR NOTABLE BOOK • Learn about the importance of vaccines and the scientific process through the fascinating life of world-renowned scientist Jonas Salk, whose pioneering discoveries changed the world forever. Dr. Jonas Salk is one of the most celebrated doctors and medical researchers of the 20th century. The child of immigrants who never learned to speak English, Jonas was struck by the devastation he saw when the soldiers returned from battle after WWII. Determined to help, he worked to become a doctor and eventually joined the team that created the influenza vaccine. But Jonas wanted to do more. As polio ravaged the United States--even the president was not immune!--Jonas decided to lead the fight against this terrible disease. In 1952, Dr. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine, which nearly eliminated polio from this country. For the rest of his life, Dr. Salk continued to do groundbreaking medical research at the Salk Institute, leaving behind a legacy that continues to make the world a better place every day. This compelling picture book biography sheds light on Dr. Salk's groundbreaking journey and the importance of vaccination.

American Pioneers & Patriots will allow your 3rd and 4th grade students to explore America's past through the fictional accounts of typical pioneer families. Young patriots of today will gain an appreciation of the courage it took to build this great nation of ours!