Toward the Setting Sun: Pioneer Girls Traveling the Overland Trails

by Mary Barmeyer O'Brien

Recounts the lives and experiences of ten girls who accompanied their families west in the nineteenth century, based on their diaries and other sources.

Genres: American History, Nonfiction, History

94 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Abby Stopka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good short read on diaries of young women travelling on the Oregon trail and all the hardships that they went through. Doesn't go much into details but you can always read their members.

[Kite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories are less memorable because they don't have as much struggle as others. I would've enjoyed this more if it went into more detail, albeit that would require to read the girl's memoirs itself. The presentation is less personal and more of a history lesson but the emotional value is there. Overall, a decent book that gives you another perspective of a part of US History back then.

7/10

[Catwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nine short stories of teen pioneer girls traveling the Oregon-California trails and around the mid west with their families as they relocate for a better life. A short story of Laura Ingalls is included. The stories are written with details from the girls' journals. Good read.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA book of summaries of the actual journeys of several young girls along the Oregon Trail, westward bound in 1840s.
Drawn from primary sources.

[Joänna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uncertainty over the purpose and audience of this short book. It was too dull for a child, but too brief for an adult. It poorly summarized primary sources and speculated about people's feelings or observations in ways that added nothing to the facts. I did appreciate the photos, map, and the well documented bibliography.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short compilation of the experiences young girls had while traveling with their families to what was hoped would be a better life in the western part of the US.

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten young heroines with very different stories to tell tied together by the theme of Westward travel. It wasn't easy for anyone of the westward pioneers, especially not the children--not for the famous ones like Virginia Reed, of the Donner Party or Laura Ingalls Wilder nor the ones of whom you've never heard their names before and probably won't find them anywhere else. Young children grew up on those overland trips--not only physically, but mentally and emotionally, as they faced trials and peril and death and hardship. No one's story was without it though many ended in CA or OR leading a life full of opportunity & ease. Despite where they landed after their trip or how their lives continued, none ever forgot their harrowing experiences. These short chapters make it easy to read aloud or while traveling. The author researched journals to find these ten young women's stories. Sometime I felt she had too much conjecture--e.g. "She may have..." "she was sure to have..." due to lack of information about the character, but all in all each chapter introduced you to a girl who faced trial and tribulation on the journey westward.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love history books about the pioneers. This tells the story of different pioneer girls that traveled the Oregon trail and 2 families that traveled across Arizona to California. Very brief in detail and story, but I liked the book.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed these looks into pioneer girls lives, just too condensed and not enough in-depth.