The California Gold Rush: An Interactive History Adventure

by Elizabeth Raum

Overview

"2 story paths, 54 choices, 14 endings"--Cover.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781515742951
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Series:	You Choose: History Series
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Raum has written over two-dozen nonfiction books for young readers, including a biography of Louis Armstrong for Capstone Press. Over the years, she has worked as a middle school and high school English teacher, an elementary school librarian, and a college library director. Elizabeth Raum has written many nonfiction books for children. Two of her Capstone You Choose books, Orphan Trains: An Interactive History Adventure (2011) and Can You Survive Storm Chasing? (2012), are Junior Library Guild selections. Elizabeth lives in Michigan with her husband, Richard.

Table of Contents

About Your Adventure 5

Chapter 1 Gold Fever 7

Chapter 2 A Sea Voyage 13

Chapter 3 Wagons West 41

Chapter 4 California! 71

Chapter 5 The Path to Riches 101

Time Line 106

Other Paths to Explore 108

Read More 109

Internet Sites 109

Glossary 110

Bibliography 111

Index 112

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3-6
While the idea of a nonfiction "Choose Your Own Adventure" book sounds intriguing, the end result is a dry combination of brief historical facts with uneven fictionalized dialogue. Because this book can't decide whether it wants to be fiction or nonfiction, a certain spark is lost, and with it all the excitement of the topic. The format is attractive-historical photographs and drawings are generously spread throughout pages that are tinged yellow to look like aged parchment-but Rhoda Blumberg's The Great American Gold Rush (S & S, 1989) is far more informative and exciting.
—Madeline J. BryantCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Elizabeth Raum has written a fascinating interactive historical story about the gold rush of 1849 in the style of the “Choose Your Adventure” stories that were popular several years ago. Each reader selects the path he wishes to follow to seek gold in California; each choice is based on one made by a real person during the gold rush. After each selection, the reader turns to the page indicated and follows the path he chose. Not all of the outcomes are pleasant; many men seeking gold died of cholera, scurvy or accidents along the way. There were thieves to watch out for when a miner found gold. Yet the incentive was great: the largest gold chunk found weighed 195 pounds. Illustrations on many pages help to explain the text. The pages’ sepia tones give the illusion of long ago 1849. After readers follow one character to California, they can follow another. Thus, they learn which choices led to wealth, which to success, and which to failure. This book is an exciting read. Schools will want to provide copies in their libraries, since questions about this fascinating historical subject appear on many achievement tests. There are two story paths, fifty-four choices and fourteen endings in this book. There are five other historical “You Choose Books” in this series.

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