West from the Cradle
by Brigid Amos
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GENRE: YA
Historical Fiction
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BLURB:
Travis Cooper was not meant to be a prospector. Small for his age, he
has never been much help on the family farm in Missouri. How could he survive the
journey west to take up such backbreaking work? But when he sees a copy of the
California Star in the fall of 1848, everything changes. One shining word jumps
off the page: GOLD! Now staying alive is a struggle. Keeping his partner from
getting himself killed is even harder!
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EXCERPT:
Travis paid for the nails and was almost out the
door when Hillerman called to him and beckoned for him to come back to the
counter. “Come here a second, son. I want to show you something.” Reaching down
behind the counter, the shopkeeper pulled out a stack of newspapers. “Melvin
Ellerbee brought me these newspapers from St. Joe. It’s this one I wanted you
to see.” Hillerman handed Travis the newspaper on the top of the stack.
“California Star,” Travis murmured. “This
newspaper’s from California?”
“It’s from San Francisco to be precise. That
newspaper was sent out this way by the editor, a Mr. Brannan of San Francisco,
to recruit new American Californians. Clever fellow, that Brannan. What I
wanted you to see was this article by Victor something or other. His name’s
French I guess. Here, look!” Hillerman pointed to an article on the front page.
As Travis skimmed the article, one shining word
jumped right off the page. “Gold?” he asked, looking up at the shopkeeper for
confirmation.
“Gold!” Hillerman said. “They found gold in the
American River. I figure there’s more where that came from, and there must be
plenty of other rivers and streams out there that have it in them.”
“Those folks are lucky, aren’t they? I’d call that
being in the right place at the right time.”
“They’re lucky all right. But so will be those who
emigrate out there this spring. It sounds like there’s plenty to go around.”
Travis put the newspaper down and searched
Hillerman’s face. “Is that what you’re thinking of doing? Going out there to
California?”
My Review:
Brigid Amos struck gold herself when she wrote this novel of the California gold rush. West From the Cradle is a YA book, but adults would also enjoy it. The book is the story of a great adventure. Young Travis, an undersized boy who can't even pull his own weight on the farm, ends up on the California gold fields where he faces illness, bad guys, hunger, and the weaknesses of his partner. There are lots of authentic details in the story. Ms. Amos even included a few Indians and their customs. The book is interesting from start to finish, and if you're looking for a fresh read with something to offer besides fluff this one is for you. 5 stars
Brigid Amos struck gold herself when she wrote this novel of the California gold rush. West From the Cradle is a YA book, but adults would also enjoy it. The book is the story of a great adventure. Young Travis, an undersized boy who can't even pull his own weight on the farm, ends up on the California gold fields where he faces illness, bad guys, hunger, and the weaknesses of his partner. There are lots of authentic details in the story. Ms. Amos even included a few Indians and their customs. The book is interesting from start to finish, and if you're looking for a fresh read with something to offer besides fluff this one is for you. 5 stars
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AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Brigid
Amos’ young adult historical fiction has appeared in The MacGuffin, The
Storyteller, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Words of Wisdom. Her first
novel, A Fence Around Her, was published by Clean Reads in 2016. A produced
playwright, she co-founded the Angels Playwriting Collective and serves on the
boards of Angels Theatre Company and Women Writing the West. She is also an
active member the Nebraska Writers Guild. Although Brigid left a nugget of her
heart behind in the California Gold Country, most of it is in Lincoln, Nebraska
where she currently lives with her husband.
Buy
the book:
Barnes
& Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/west-from-the-cradle-brigid-amos/1126943650
iTunes: https://itun.es/us/jleOlb.l
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/west-from-the-cradle
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/741413
Connecting
with Brigid Amos:
Join
Brigid’s mailing list: http://www.brigidamos.com/mailing-list-signup.html
Like
Brigid on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/brigidamoswriter/?fref=ts
Follow
Brigid on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Brigid_Amos
Visit
Brigid’s website:
http://www.brigidamos.com/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and
RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Brigid Amos will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly
drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletecongrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteGood morning. I always like to ask my fellow authors this question: Can you read or write when it's noisy or do you need peace and quiet to focus as I do myself?
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting West from the Cradle! So excited about this review!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lisa Brown and Bea LaRocca for stopping by! Bea, in response to your question, I call myself a cafe writer in that I seem to need background chatter to write. My mind seems to wander more when I try to write in silence. I have often wondered though if I should train myself to do that, if perhaps I would write differently in silence. I actually consider myself a contemplative, so it seems that silence would be conducive to better writing. I suspect that I need the background chatter because I spent so many years in an open classroom, which was all the rage back then. I remember being in a traditional classroom years later in high school, taking a math exam, and all the other students started complaining about the noise from the classroom next door. Believe it or not, I hadn't even heard it until they complained about it!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! :)
ReplyDeleteIn response to your response Brigid, that is so interesting. I am the total opposite, Any type of noise distracts me from my train of thought. I find myself listening and not thinking even if I don't want to listen. I have actually gone back over something that I'd written and found that I'd typed in snippets of conversation that I'd heard or lyrics from a song that was playing instead of the prose that I was trying to put down. Now I usually run my fan on high for the white noise effect. This drowns out whatever background noise and helps me to focus. Thanks so much for responding to my query. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDelete