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GO WEST, YOUNG WOMEN!

Name: GO WEST, YOUNG WOMEN!
Author: Kathleen Karr
ISBN: 0-06-027151-5

by Kathleen Karr ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 30, 1996

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The Petticoat Party series opens with a disaster: Not long after the Brown family—Mama, Papa, Amelia, and Phoebe—leave by wagon train for Oregon, all but three of the men are killed in a buffalo stampede; the survivors are badly injured. Led by the formidable Miss Simpson, the women decide to press on to their destination. But the Oregon Trail is a difficult trek (readers know this part: hostile Indians, rugged terrain, rough river crossing, food and water shortages, the ominous badlands) that has defeated many an able-bodied male. These women take charge of their lives and face the hazardous passage with courage and determination; by the book's end they have reached the halfway point in their journey and resolve to finish the last 1,400 miles to Oregon completely on their own. Phoebe, a smart and spunky narrator, wisely sees through the male heroics that nearly killed them all. A good adventure tale by Karr (In The Kaiser's Clutch, p. 1430, etc.) and a real consciousness-raiser to boot. (Fiction. 10+)

Pub Date: March 30, 1996

ISBN: 0-06-027151-5

Page Count: 202

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1995

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT TURKEY WALK
by Kathleen Karr ; illustrated by Léonie Bischoff ; translated by Michelle Bailat-Jones

- BOOK REVIEW
FORTUNE’S FOOL
by Kathleen Karr

- BOOK REVIEW
BORN FOR ADVENTURE
by Kathleen Karr

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THE SEVENTH MOST IMPORTANT THING

by Shelley Pearsall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2015

Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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Traumatized by his father’s recent death, a boy throws a brick at an old man who collects junk in his neighborhood and winds up on probation working for him.

Pearsall bases the book on a famed real work of folk art, the Throne of the Third Heaven, by James Hampton, a janitor who built his work in a garage in Washington, D.C., from bits of light bulbs, foil, mirrors, wood, bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard—the titular seven most important things. In late 1963, 13-year-old Arthur finds himself looking for junk for Mr. Hampton, who needs help with his artistic masterpiece, begun during World War II. The book focuses on redemption rather than art, as Hampton forgives the fictional Arthur for his crime, getting the boy to participate in his work at first reluctantly, later with love. Arthur struggles with his anger over his father’s death and his mother’s new boyfriend. Readers watch as Arthur transfers much of his love for his father to Mr. Hampton and accepts responsibility for saving the art when it becomes endangered. Written in a homespun style that reflects the simple components of the artwork, the story guides readers along with Arthur to an understanding of the most important things in life.

Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)