Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail

Elvira Woodruff is the author of more than 20 picture books and novels for young adults. Her book Dear Napoleon, I Know You’re Dead, But . . . has been included in numerous child-voted state award programs, including the Mark Twain Book Award, the Sequoyah Children’s Book Award, and the West Virginia Children’s Book Award. Born and raised in New Jersey, Woodruff began writing professionally at the age of 35, and hasn’t stopped since. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys gardening (morning glories are a favorite) and traveling. She also spends a lot of her time visiting schools and libraries, sharing her ideas about writing with children. 

Beth Peck has illustrated many books, including Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory and The Thanksgiving Visitor. She lives in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

Grade 4-6-Austin Ives, 12, heads West in 1851 with a wagon train and writes letters to his younger brother, who remains in Pennsylvania. An orphan, Austin is traveling with the Morrison family and plans to settle on the Oregon land his father claimed before he died. The book's epistolary form makes exposition somewhat awkward and doesn't allow for much sustaining of mood. Still, the boy's voice rings true as he describes his adventures and draws the characters of the Morrisons; his friends, boaster Hiram and abused Frank; and the colorful trail cook, Reuben, who wears a coat covered with buttons from all the folks he's met in his travels. Woodruff doesn't spare the real sorrows of pioneer journeys-illness, death, lack of water, fights between travelers, and the threat of hostile Indians. Austin's final difficulties are resolved a bit too easily, but readers will enjoy the happy ending. This tale, with its occasional pencil illustrations and short chapters, would make a good classroom read-aloud.
Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public Library
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