In the spring of 1846, the Donner Party began their trek from Missouri to California. Like other pioneer families from the East and Midwest who embraced the idea of Manifest Destiny and looked to economic opportunities in the West, the Donner Party was seeking a better life for anyone who committed to the journey. As we now know, history has recorded the Donner Party’s harrowing and tragic efforts to reach the promised land.
Features
From the Stacks: Harrowing story comes to life in historical fiction
In 1846, a large party of emigrants left Springfield, Illinois, for a new life in California. The farther they went, the more perilous their passage became.
by Courtney Waters - For the News Tribune
Jul. 24 2021 @ 11:05pm
In 1846, a large party of emigrants left Springfield, Illinois, for a new life in California. The first part of their journey went more or less as planned with few casualties. The farther they went, however, the more perilous their passage became. The routes at the time took groups of settlers over dangerous mountain passes, across raging rivers, and through the dry and deadly salt flats near the Great Salt Lake. Tales of shortcuts passed from party to party but were largely theoretical and potentially more dangerous than the established routes. This particular party, however, followed the established Oregon Trail until they got to the Rockies, at which point they decided to split in
Allan Wolf
Allan Wolf’s novel in verse, “The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices From the Donner Party,” is a finalist for the 2020 Times Book Prize in young adult literature.
If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
In the 1840s, a party of Midwestern migrants making their way to California became snowbound and succumbed to madness, murder and cannibalism. Ever since, many writers have tried to unravel the mysteries of the Donner Party and gotten bogged down as well, stymied by a sprawling narrative involving close to 100 characters.
Blood Red Road meets “The Snow Queen” in this winter-bound Western YA novel following 16-year-old Jorie Harrow, who scavenges dead men outside the Gold Rush town of Shadow Springs, where spring hasn’t come for a generation.
Sunny-Side Up by Jacky Davis, illus. by Fiona Woodcock. Greenwillow, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-257307-0. This picture book offers a realistic take on how much emotional stamina can be required to make it through a day gone wrong when the protagonist’s mother leaves for the day.
Paris by Phone by Pamela Druckerman, illus. by Benjamin Chaud. Putnam, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-399-16506-1. Having shown adults the ways of French parenting in 2014’s