Children of the Covered Wagon

Children Of The Covered Wagon, by Mary Jane Carr
Revised and edited by Michael McHugh
(Christian Liberty Press, 2005), pb., 275 pp.
Ages 8+

This is an older book which has been revised and edited, though there was no indication of the previous publication date or the extent of the revising and editing. The story itself “chronicles the trials and tribulations of a company of pioneer men, women, and children who braved the dangers of the Oregon Trail in 1844” (from the Preface). The story focuses on a particular company’s travel to Oregon relating, primarily from the perspective of one of the young boys, the difficulties, adventures, sufferings, and joys of the people along the way.

My boys had been learning abut this era, and this book really helped us grasp more of what it must have been like for the people who made this journey. The book “humanized” the Oregon Trail for us. As we read of them leaving family behind, eventually having to dump prized possessions along the trail in order to keep moving and fearing Indian attack we were brought into the story. More than once my boys commented along the lines of “Wow, that would have been hard!” The story was not as consistently exciting as some others, but it was valuable in coming to a better appreciation of this era in American history.