Women of the Frontier: 16 Tales of Trailblazing Homesteaders, Entrepreneurs, and Rabble Rousers

Miller (Thomas Jefferson for Kids) offers a comprehensive look at the lives of pioneer women, both in general and specifically, who bravely ventured to the American west in the mid-19th century. Seven detailed chapters delve into such topics as harrowing trail journeys (“[W]omen hardened to shocking sights—seeing the dead lowered into graves without coffins or funerals, watching haunted people tramping home after giving up the struggle.... Young ones wandered off or fell and were crushed beneath wagon wheels”), the hardships of homesteading life, frontier entertainment, and female political activism. Fascinating, mini-biographies of 16 women round out each chapter, incorporating excerpts from letters and journals. Readers meet former slave Clara Brown, who amassed an entrepreneurial fortune in Colorado but lost it helping others, as well as Donner Party survivor Margret Reed, whose story is harrowing, as are those of two women held captive by the Comanche. Missionary and army wives, widows and entertainers—all impress and inspire as they survive, sometimes thrive, and carve out new lives for themselves. B&w archival illustrations and photographs punctuate the text. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)