In 1851 twelve-year-old Sarah is a free Black, happy living with her parents, grandparents, and brother on their own farm in Iowa; but her father has been bitten by the gold bug and wants to take the trail west to California, and after some argument it is decided that the the grandparents will stay on the farm, but the rest of the family will go; the journey will be difficult and dangerous, but if they survive extreme weather, difficult terrain, illness,...

An English boy journeys to California during the Gold Rush.

A collection of adventure stories set in the American West, originally published in "Youth's Companion" and "St. Nicholas," two of the most popular children's magazines in the nineteenth century.

Things start looking up for Emily and Jackson when Emily's inheritance clears and Aunt Hilda becomes her legal guardian and offers to become Jackson's, as well, but Uncle Victor reappears, willing to do anything to steal Emily's fortune.

"For most couples, the marriage vows end with ''Til death do us part.' But when Smoke Jensen takes Sally Reynolds as his lawfully wedded wife, it's just the beginning. The tragic deaths of Smoke's first wife and child weigh heavily on his heart. Thankfully, Sally is there to give him the support he needs when they return to Colorado, where it all happened. She's ready to embrace her husband's past--for better or worse--and to welcome his friend Preacher...

Westward Journeys contains three stories focusing on the American westward expansion, including the Oregon Trail and the Oklahoma Land Run. In Minnow and Rose, Rose and her family are traveling with a wagon train heading west on the Oregon Trail. When she encounters Minnow, a young native girl, their meeting has life-changing results for both cultures. The Oklahoma Land Run is the topic in Pappy's Handkerchief. When Moses and his family hear of free...

"For thousands of years the lonely canyon knew only wind and rain, wild animals, and an occasional native hunter. Then a trapper found a chunk of gold, and everything changed overnight. In six days a town called Confusion appeared...and on the seventh it could disappear, consumed by the flames of lawlessness and violence. On one side are those who understand only brute force. On the other are men who want law and order but are ready to use a noose...

"The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still populate America's western territories even as lawless gold-rush towns begin to mark the landscape. In much of the country, it is still illegal to espouse evolution. Against this backdrop, two monomaniacal paleontologists pillage the Wild West, hunting for dinosaur fossils while surveilling, deceiving, and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be known as the Bone Wars. Into this treacherous...

Badly wounded, fleeing from his enemies, Trace Jordan takes refuge at an isolated homestead where Maria Cristina nurses him back to health. Trace's enemies eventually find him so now Trace must decide whether to leave Maria behind or take her with him.