In April of 1846, Sarah Graves, 21 years old and newly married, set out with her husband, her parents and her eight siblings; their destination was California. Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, Sarah and her family arrived at Truckee Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. The group was trapped. On December 15, Sarah and 14 other young, healthy people set out for California on foot, hoping to get relief for the others. Over the next 32 days they endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors. In this gripping and richly informative narrative, Daniel James Brown takes students along on every step of Sarah's journey. Brown clarifies rumors about the Donner Party and highlights just how difficult life was for the first Western pioneers. Daniel James Brown
