Book Review: Bound for Oregon by Jean van Leeuwen

Title: Bound for Oregon
Author: Jean van Leeuwen
Audience: For independent reading, probably 7-12, but you could read it out loud to younger children, potentially with some filtering (see below)

Plot Summary
Set in the 1850s, story is told from the perspective of young Mary Ellen Todd, whose family leaves its Arkansas farm to journey to a new life in the rich farming country in Oregon. They initially travel alone, but join (and leave) wagon trains between Independence and their final destination in Oregon. They encounter many of the usual Oregon Trail struggles: difficult river crossings, severe illness, exhausted oxen unable to continue pulling the wagons, low morale, hunger, arguments about the best course for the wagon train to take negative encounters with local Native American Indians, etc.

Objectionable Content
There is a scene toward the end of the book in which several men in the wagon train have an argument about slavery; proponents of slavery use the n-word and speak offensively about black people as a race. Although the racist/pro-slavery characters are not portrayed favorably, I would still probably edit the language (or skip the scene entirely because it's completely unnecessary for the Oregon Trail plot) if I were reading it to younger children.

The narrator, Mary Ellen, has a few instances of bitterness toward her father when the journey is particularly tough. While this isn't objectionable on its own, I would have liked to see these emotions addressed more adequately than they were--or just omitted entirely. Children get angry at their parents, obviously, but I did not see an appropriate resolution to this interior conflict--Mary Ellen was angry at her father for the strife he put them through by insisting they journey to Oregon, and then they make it to Oregon and everything is suddenly fine. She never talks to anyone or tries to grapple with her feelings, and I wondered why the author bothered to bring that up if she was just going to leave it hanging.

Things to Note
This is about the Oregon Trail, so there is a lot of hardship. While none of the Todd family members die during the journey, one of them comes very close to death, and several of their wagon train companions do die from various illnesses. (The last of these deaths trigger Mary Ellen's resentment toward her father, which I don't think the novel resolves.) Mary Ellen also struggles to accept her stepmother, and she does resolve it by the end of the novel, although I found it kind of clunky.

Final Verdict

I think it's a solid introduction for children to learn about the American pioneer era, but you might find yourself having conversations about slavery, the Civil War, and the consequences of westward expansion on the Native American Indians.