A Pathfinder for Novels about Pioneers
   

When you are looking for books in a library catalog, these are the SUBJECT terms I recommend.  For books about a westward journey, Overland journeys to the Pacific is my first choice; as a keyword covered wagon also gets hits. Frontier and pioneer life is the SUBJECT term that will bring up novels that do not necessarily involve the journey.
   

For books that we have in our Library about Overland journeys to the Pacific, see below.

For books that we have about Frontier and pioneer life, click here.
   
Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: the Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell by Kristiana Gregory (FIC GR). This is part of the Dear America series and is shelved with that series.
   
Bound for Oregon by Jean Van Leeuwen (FIC VA). Fictionalized account of a true life journey of a nine-year-old girl and her family from Arkansas over the Oregon Trail in 1852.
   
Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail by Elvira Woodruff (FIC WO). Twelve-year-old Austin Ives writes letters to his younger brother describing his 3000-mile journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Oregon in 1851.
   
For Ma and Pa by Wilma Pitchford Hayes (FIC HAY). Recounts the adventures of thirteen-year old John Sager who led his six brothers and sisters 700 miles to Oregon in the early 1800's. This book is short (63 pages) so you would probably have to read something else as well.
   
The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds the Donner Party Expedition by W. R. Philbrick. (FIC PH). An orphan recouts his experiences as part of the Donner Party. The book is based on actual events and is part of the Dear America series.
   
Nine Lives of Moses on the Oregon Trail. by Marion Fuller Archer (FIC ARC). A twelve-year-old girl travels West with her mother and brother along the Oregon Trail and has many adventures with the cat she insists on taking along.
   
Patty Reed's Doll: the Story of the Donner Party by Rachel Laugaard (FIC LA). A wooden doll recalls the hope with which a group of pioneers begins their journey and the ordeals they face as they travel from Springfield, Ill. to California.
   
Rachel's Journal: the Story of a Pioneer Girl by Marissa Moss (FIC MO). Shelved with the Dear America series, this is a short book (52 p.) - probably could not work by itself.
   
Sally Fox: the story of a Pioneer Girl by Dorothy Leland (FIC LE). A fictionalized account of twelve-year-ol Sallie Fox's journey in 1858 from Iowa to California in a covered wagon.
   
Westward to Home by Patricia Hermes (FIC HE). Part of the My America series shelved with the Dear America books. A nine-year-old boy writes a journal of his family's journey from Missouri to Oregon in a covered wagon.