Snowbound: The Tragic Story of the Donner Party

by David Lavender

Book Overview

Relates the ordeals faced by a group of pioneers on their journey from Illinois to California in 1846. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823412318
• ISBN13: 9780823412310
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Holiday House
• Length: 87 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.2" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Great but Sad

This book is great, especially because we are related to the author. The story is tragic, but really interesting.

A good American history book for students.

Well-illustrated with black-and-white photographs, portraits, and drawings, "SNOWBOUND: The Tragic Story of the Donner Party" is a succinct, well-written summary of the misfortunes of a group of American emigrants who were trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter of 1846-47. Lavender tells the story of survival of the desperate people straightforwardly, neither glossing over the grim facts nor candy-coating the truth. With no extraneous material, large type and big margins allow the reader to buzz quickly through the 87-page book. Although the book is directed at students ages 9-12, I feel it would hold the interest of an even wider audience; high school students reading below grade-level would find this book an easy read, without being made to feel spoon-fed. The nonfiction account follows the Donner Party from their departure from Springfield, Illinois through to the end, when the last survivors finally reached the promised land of California. Biographical information regarding many of the survivors recounts their assimilation into California society. Lavender treats the discrepant viewpoints of the many Donner Party historians of the last century and a half fairly and in a matter-of-fact way. Includes a bibliography and an index.