A good yarn about a boy who went from St. Louis to California and to the northwest with Fremont. Hildegarde Hawthorne is a careful scholar; her facts as to incident and character and historical detail can be counted on. The story occasionally is sacrificed for the sake of the facts, but in the case of this thrilling facet of opening up of the west, history is good enough. The picture of Fremont is slightly more sympathetic than some I have read; his reasons for bringing about the United States possession of California are made credible, and he is not wholly praiseworthy. I cannot remember another book for younger readers dealing with this particular aspect of our history, so this should win a permanent place on juvenile shelves.