A Tale of Gold

by Thelma Hatch Wyss

GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! scream the headlines in July 1897, announcing the discovery of gold in the Yukon. Fourteen-year-old James Erickson, alone

in the world after his father's death, is mesmerized when he sees the

first ship of prospectors enter the San Francisco harbor. Caught up in

the gold fever, he books passage on a steamer up to Alaska.

In Alaska, James meets Tip, a skinny boy who turns out to be a girl -- and

the only person James trusts to be his partner. Together they embark on a

treacherous trek over the mountains and down the river, battling rapids,

con men, and the cold. When their survival skills -- and their dedication

to each other -- are tested, James and Tip wonder whether their exhausting

journey will be worth it. Is their fortune waiting just beyond the next

bend? And what are they willing to risk to find out?

Fast-paced and vividly imagined, this is the gripping story of a young

man who follows his dreams. Thelma Hatch Wyss richly re-creates the harsh

experience of life on the Gold Rush Trail, weaving a tale of adventure,

peril, and ultimately, belonging.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 2007

About the author

Thelma Hatch Wyss lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is married. She is the author of Here at the Scenic-Vu Motel, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Ten Miles from Winnemucca, a Junior Library Guild Selection and a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year; and on the McElderry list, Bear Dancer: The Story of a Ute Girl, which won the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Regional Book Award and was on the New York Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing" list. She has one married son with two children.

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

My grandfather is one of the many who set off for the Yukon in search of gold and adventure. His own mother came to California at the age of four, riding in a coffin as she was not expected to survive the journey. I was drawn to this work of fiction out of curiousity as to what his experience might have been. In the case of my grandfather, not one of the passengers on his boat set foot on Alaskan soil. I have yet to find any more information about why that would have been.

A Tale of Gold crafted by Thelma Hatch Wyss, a Salt Lake City resident, features a fourteen year old orphan who is working as a hack driver in San Francisco when news of gold in Alaska hits the streets. The story is plausable, the characters sympathetic, the challenges daunting. The real fun begins when he finds an unlikely partner, gripping adventure ensues with many a difficult choice to make along the way.

This would be a great read-aloud for families and for teachers of fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know about the Alaskan Gold Rush and digging for gold, this is the book. Written for YA readers it tells the story of James Erikson, fourteen and suddenly an orphan, who watches a boat return from the gold fields and sees men toss gold nuggets to the crowd. They lay all over the ground in Alaska, so men told him, he could just pick them up. Gold fever strikes and not just James. He leaves San Francisco on one of the gold boats for Alaska, along with so many others. In fact he's lucky to get there alive as everyone is profiteering and the ships are dangerously overloaded.

The boat takes the gold seeking stampeders as far as Skagway in Canada and then the fun begins. To get to the gold fields the stampeders have to cross the Rockies in early winter, wait for the spring ice break, then go down a river and cross a lake. The Canadian Mounties insist that they go properly equipped and provisioned, with a ton of goods. James has to pack it all, bit by bit, like most of the other stampeders, over the mountain passes and then build a boat.

Finally in Alaska James meets Tip, who is not what he seems, and they become partners. But it's still a fight to get a claim and avoid the profiteers, thieves and con men who have followed the stampeders and cheat, overcharge and steal from them. It is the details which make the book so absorbing. The author has done her research and the arduous journey made by the gold seekers is retold in gory detail.

This a satisfying read and one that reluctant boy readers would enjoy, if they could get the copy back from their sisters.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read-aloud to my children, and we all enjoyed this historical fiction based on the gold rush.
I have now read it a second time to my younger children, and we all enjoyed it just as much the second time around!

[Kimberly Sabatini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book to read after taking a cruise of Alaska's Inner Passage--the boys loved reading about all the places we visited and hearing a fictionalized account of all the history that encountered on the vacation.

[Marge]

What would you risk to find a fortune. Young Boy and girl meet on their travels to Alaska to strike it rich.