The long way to a new land (An I can read history book)

By Joan Sandin

Book Overview

"We will go to America!" It is 1868, and Carl Erik's family faces starvation in Sweden. As their hopes fade, they must endure a journey over land and sea to reach a better life in a new country thousands of miles away.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006025193X
• ISBN13: 9780060251932
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: Harper & Row
• Length: 63 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Age Range: 7 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 4

Customer Reviews

Great early reader

I'm a second-generation American, so I used this book to help my kids understand the immigration of their great-grandmother, especially relevant since we just spent Christmas with her. The time frame is earlier than Gramma's trip, but the desperation and the determination were right-on. I thought this book did a great job describing some scary things without totally freaking children out. And yet, my kids clearly understood how out-of-control the parents in this story felt all through their journey. The reading level is just right for this book -- excellent level 3 reader. ps -- it's so nice to read an early reader that isn't about Thomas the Train, Tinkerbell, or Star Wars!

Great Book

This a good book for beginning readers and acquaints them with the history of the United States Flag. It is not too "stuffy" for them to enjoy.

Finally!

Oh my gosh! I am so excited to have found this book! I used to read this when I was in grade school. (I am now 27.) I remember checking it out of the library on a regular basis along with 'Wagon Wheels'. I love the illustrations as well. I'm buying them both A.S.A.P.!

Excellent for the Classroom

The Long Way to a New Land and The Long Way Westward are companion books that chronicle a family's journey from their Swedish farm, which is suffering from an extended drought, to a new home in Minnesota. The books describe the difficulty and dangers of the journey in a way that is non-complaining and full of optimism for a new life in America. Teachers, these books are wonderful for integrating with other subjects and topics, such as immigration, westward expansion, steamships, trains, geography, and American life in the 1860s.