Jul 08, Karrel Buck rated it it was amazing Shelves: historical-fiction , great-kids-books. I grew up a few hours from Donner Pass. I read this in 4th grade and this story has held onto my heart ever since then. All American children should read it, especially now when they have no sense of what life was like for people like the Reeds and the Donners.
The doll is at Sutter's Fort and it is so powerful to see. If you haven't read this and even if you are a grown up - you must. View 2 comments. May 27, Piper rated it it was amazing. A clean version of the Donner party. May 20, Mandi rated it it was amazing. I really liked this as a read aloud for history. Oct 09, Jackie rated it did not like it.
There was not even on mention of cannibalism in this book about the Donner Party :. View all 4 comments. Apr 07, Gale rated it liked it Shelves: biography , us-history-westward-movment , historical-fiction-young-adult , survival , dolls-toys.
These 19 short chapters describe the hope, simple pleasures and ultimate grim saga of starvation of the ill-fated Donner party. This pre-Gold rush wagon train took a bogus cutoff and fell into the pitiless trap of early an winter with record blizzards. Many of the emigrants who had dreamed of a new life in California endured the bitterness of prolonged starvation; many died adults and children in the snowbound cabins by Donner Lake and Summit Pass, but many others survived, including a plucky 8-year-old girl named Patty Reed.
She has a special friend who helps her endure this Ordeal by Hunger--a tiny wooden doll which she keeps hidden in her clothing. This doll now on display at the Donner Museum near Truckee, CA bravely shares the fate of her young mistress without complaint, and Patty keeps no secrets from Dolly. Young readers will be so caught up in the Reed family's struggle shared by many other Irish families , that they will hardly notice how much they are learning about the Westward movement, wagon trains and the towering Sierra Nevadas.
April 23, I welcome dialogue with teachers. Aug 27, Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it really liked it Shelves: read-childrens-books , read-disasters , read-survival. A surprisingly well-told story of the tragic Donner Party told from the point of view of the little doll belonging to Patty Reed, who survived.
I could have done without the somewhat amateurish illustrations, though I did appreciate the photo in the front of the actual doll and a map of the route the party took. Because the Reed family never participated in the cannibalism that others in the party resorted to, the doll's narrative entirely avoided mention of that, which is fine for a children's A surprisingly well-told story of the tragic Donner Party told from the point of view of the little doll belonging to Patty Reed, who survived.
Because the Reed family never participated in the cannibalism that others in the party resorted to, the doll's narrative entirely avoided mention of that, which is fine for a children's story. I wish I could have seen the Reeds' huge, two-story wagon.
I'll bet that was fun to ride in, at first, anyway, until the heat made it a sauna inside, and the monotony and hardships made it seem more like a prison. Those people certainly had courage. I can't imagine walking all the way from New York to the West. Recommended for upper elementary to middle school kids. Apr 05, Tom rated it really liked it. What I learned: "I have not wrote to you half the trouble we have had but I have wrote enough to let you know that you don't know what trouble is.
But thank God we have all got through and the only family that did not eat human flesh. We have everything but I don't care for that. We have got through with our lives but Don't let this letter dishearten anybody. Never take no cutoffs and hurry along as fast as you can. Stay at home,—you are in a good place, where, if sick, you are not in danger of starving to death. Mar 16, Emily M rated it really liked it Shelves: middle-grade-fiction , historical-fiction , my-kids-will-like-this.
Well, this was a pleasant surprise! It's such a horrific story, and I doubted that it could be done well for grade schoolers. I was also leery of a book written as a master's thesis. But I was wrong! By telling the story through a doll's eyes and spending much of the book describing the rest of the trek out to California, the actual horrors in the Sierra Well, this was a pleasant surprise!
By telling the story through a doll's eyes and spending much of the book describing the rest of the trek out to California, the actual horrors in the Sierra Nevada are set in the context of the whole pioneer experience. Fortunately, all the Reeds did survive the journey, so for their family, at least, there's what my little girls considered a happy ending. The prose is quite lovely, actually. I read the whole book aloud over our two nights in Sacramento, and it so well-written that it was a pleasure to read aloud.
The story flowed along so that the kids kept begging me for one more chapter. And of course it was super cool for us to be able to go to Sutter's Fort today and actually see the doll! I wish there were more charming works of historical fiction written like this, around an artifact that kids can go see in person!
It's just such an engaging way to learn history. An unexpected treat - - great for little girls who love Little House on the Prairie and other pioneer stories or those who fell in love with Hitty: Her First Hundred Years and want to read more American history from the POV of a doll.
Jun 26, Gretchen rated it liked it. Patty Reed's Doll was a book my 4th grader was reading, and she thought I might enjoy it too. Having grown up in Texas, I knew a very little bit about the Donner Party. More specifically, I only knew the horrific parts, but nothing else. I was a little worried how this book might handle that part, but thankfully, the book does not mention it, nor does it really need to in order to tell the story.
The book was good and a really easy read. This book reminds me a little bit of the Little House Books Patty Reed's Doll was a book my 4th grader was reading, and she thought I might enjoy it too. This book reminds me a little bit of the Little House Books, but not as well written in my opinion. The story is told from the point of view of a little girl's doll.
I had high hopes for this treatment but felt like the idea fell a little flat. I wish the author had pushed the idea of the doll telling the story a little more. All and all, I was glad to read this book and learn a little more about the Reed family and Donnor family and how they ended up in their infamous predicament. Oct 10, Jeanette rated it liked it Shelves: s-publication , family-read-alouds , childrens , walter-park. The story is told from the perspective of Patty Reed's doll which is on display at Sutters Fort in Sacramento.
One of my kids, knowing some of the history of the Donner Party, was not eager to read this but the author did a good job of describing the harrowing ordeal the Reeds experienced with out going into gruesome detail. In fact, the Reeds were camped some miles from the Donners and never engaged in c We picked this book up the last time we visited Donner Memorial State Park in California. In fact, the Reeds were camped some miles from the Donners and never engaged in cannabillism.
So this story does not even mention it, as the story is told from Patty Reeds doll's perspective. If you want a kids book that tells more of the Donners story and does not skirt all the gruesome issues as much, my son recommends Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale. I've not read it but he assures me it is good. Jun 25, Meghan rated it really liked it. I read this as a 4th grader in the gold country of California.
I never forgot the story or the unit that went along with it. Fast forward, 20 something years later and I searched libraries high and low for this book to share with my own kids non-California residents. Never did find it, but thank goodness for Amazon. It took us about a week of reading together at night to finish. It was just as good as I remembered, I only wish I had the teaching materials to go along with it and the location I read this as a 4th grader in the gold country of California.
It was just as good as I remembered, I only wish I had the teaching materials to go along with it and the location to really open my kids eyes to the history. Highly recommend for kids to learn just enough about the Donner Party without inducing any cabalistic nightmares. May 15, Jay DeVine rated it really liked it. Somehow, I just never got around to reading this book. Our fourth graders are reading it, so I figured it's about time. It's a good, little book. All of these names are so familiar.
This is a nice "stepping off" point, if students want to know more about that history. Dec 31, Robin Zolotoff rated it really liked it. I chose this book because it was one of my favorites from childhood. I wanted to re-read it as an adult and gain insight as to why I enjoyed it so much. It's a young adult book that doesn't get into some of the worst things that the Donner party suffered, but enough hardship to get the full grasp of their incredible journey.
It's told from the perspective of the little wooden doll that Patty Reed carried in her pocket, which is now at Sutter Fort museum in Sacramento.
Nov 26, Farrah rated it liked it. Smooth read and super well-researched I waited and waited for the doll to dish on the Donner diet of uncle fingers, but she totally skipped it Learned a lot. Feb 02, Michelle rated it really liked it Shelves: my-reads , children-s. I think the book does a great job depicting the reality of the challenges while also sparing younger readers the worst details.
My daughter and I enjoyed sharing this story together. Sep 11, Jane Irish Nelson rated it liked it Shelves: children-young-adult , historical. Probably 3. This is the story of the Donner Party as told from the viewpoint of the miniature doll owned by one of the girls who made the journey. Because this is written for young children, the story is somewhat simplified, but nonetheless powerful. It provides an excellent introduction to this topic. Dec 29, K. Carroll rated it it was amazing Shelves: juvenile-fiction , historical.
Read it as a kid, parts of it stayed stuck in my head forever, like when the dad has the piece of bread hidden in the thumb of his glove. Whenever people get snowed in on the highway through the Donnor pass, I still wonder if they're going to be forced to eat their horses and leather boots.
Feb 22, Laurel rated it it was amazing. This is such an excellent story for introducing elementary-aged children to the Donner Party saga. My daughters were entranced by the dynamic telling of the adventures and perils of these families as told through the eyes of a doll. Emigrant party on the road to California. Handcolored engraving. Illustration courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The Donner Party is seen as an archetypal American cautionary tale, yet the party was diverse, including Irishmen, an Englishman, a German family, and an elderly Belgian man, as well as Salvador and Luis, two Miwok natives.
The two pivotal families at the heart of the Donner Party were the Donners and the Reeds. The party fell victim to bickering and in-fighting. However, this route added precious time to the trip, much of which was through country almost impassable except on foot, and the group had to stop frequently to build roads or carve passageways through the rugged terrain.
When the snows came, the party was unable to move on, although they were less than miles Of the eighty-one souls trapped in two camps high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, only forty-eight survived. Beginning in February , survivors were rescued by several relief parties. Most of the Reed family left with the Second Relief party, but Patty and her brother Tommy were judged too weak and were left behind to await rescue.
Many books and articles have been written about the Donner Party. Suffice it to say that by the time Patty Reed emerged from the mountains, with her doll hidden inside her clothing, both had endured an ordeal of many months and witnessed the unimaginable.
Dolly was to have a third lucky escape: she survived the arduous rescue a long march out through snow more than 20 feet [6. Dolly was given to Patty by her grandmother Sarah.
0コメント