Book Review

Wagons West!

A Series by Dana FullerRoss

"How do you keep yourself from

going crazy watching kids all day?",

asks my mother-in-law

"Get a book", says her sister.

While out on the western front, watching kids play at my mother-in-laws, I really needed a book. I had temporarily misplaced the Solzhenitsyn book I discussed in a previous entry.

I'm not really good at sitting still, as my friends know. I need to have something to do.

My mother-in-laws sister had given her a box of books from a rummage sale. A collection of them caught my eye and eventually I picked one up, Texas!, and read it in about two days.

Then I picked up another one, California!.

Then followed Oregon!, Independence!, and Washington!.

This had me reading this part of the series in the following volume order: Fifth, Sixth, Fourth, First, Ninth, out of twenty four, covering American history from 1837-1876.

I spent so much time in my head with wagon trains and pioneers, and being out in the Old West, that I begin to think like one. I viewed the world from the mentality of a survivor. I enjoy books the most when they teach me something, and these books were full of history and a peek into a different kind of life, where women had to make meals from scratch around the campfire and men had to hunt and fend off predators and enemies.

I also gained some new understanding of the "manifest destiny", and how settling these areas was important to the future of America as a young country. Pioneers were not just adventurous and self-reliant, they were also patriotic.

I was most intrigued by the characters in the story. I didn't realize how emotionally invested I was with them, though, until my favorite character died in the ninth volume. I missed him, and so did the family he belonged so. That is the hook that draws you into this series.

I felt like Ross's writing style was much like Danielle Steel, with more diverse characters and less romance. There was a lot of love in these books, between families and friends, but it stopped short of being sappy or droll.

Instead, it was a vibrant look into history, and made it come alive with human nature and understanding.