California Gold Rush: an Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History)

Description

You are a New Englander with a bad case of gold fever. Gold has been discovered in California, and you want to go claim some for yourself. Here's a chance to set off on your own quest for gold. Everything in this book happened to real people, but you are in control now and YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to treasure or trouble. Will you strike it rich?

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.

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.-- "Children's Literature Comprehensive Database"