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How to Get Rich Series
Library Book: How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush
An adventurer shares his experience looking for gold during the California Gold Rush.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 24, 2019
The author makes this book seem authentic because of the letters that are inside the book. The illustrations are also colorful and appealing. The posters, postcards, and real historical images are blended with humorous facts and information from a prospector's point of view.
December 11, 2015
Summary: "How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush” follows the fictitious Thomas Hartley as he and two friends travel to California from Boston in order to hunt for gold. They travel by boat via the Panama route to San Francisco, and finally on to Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada foothills. They find nothing but bad fortune for many months and decide to split up. Thomas manages to have moderate success with one group of miners until their water wheel is washed downstream during a storm. With lots of money for the first time, he wastes nearly all of it gambling and having fun in San Francisco. Soon he is nearly broke, but runs into one of his original friends and they find success managing several places that supply room and board.
Characteristics That Support the Genre: This book falls into the historical fiction and picture book categories. The story itself is fictitious, but the backdrop for the story includes a good amount of accurate detail pertaining to the daily life of a 49er, and the struggles and hardships they endured. Along with the clever text, the book includes extremely detailed illustrations and a ledger that Thomas keeps. Both help tremendously with comprehension of the book, and with making the book more entertaining.
Mentor Writing Traits: (1) Voice – The author portrays incredible passion for the topic throughout the book, and brings the witty main character to life through carefully crafted language. (2) Idea – The topic of the California Gold Rush is one that is captivating for young readers (3) Word Choice – The text paints an especially vivid picture through choice words and phrases not commonly found in children’s books, such as “vexing”, “land of plenty”, and “wondrous sight”.
Classroom Integration: This would be a great mentor text to start a unit on historical fiction, especially if the students were to create their own fictitious story set in some historical event or era. Additionally, the teacher could use this as a tool to engage students in using creativity and word choice to liven their writing pieces.
Other Suggestions: I would suggest this book as being appropriate for readers in approximately fifth grade, due to the vocabulary and relatively complicated subject matter. As an additional idea for integration in the classroom, this book could spur a mathematics lesson due to its extensive use of a personal ledger.
Characteristics That Support the Genre: This book falls into the historical fiction and picture book categories. The story itself is fictitious, but the backdrop for the story includes a good amount of accurate detail pertaining to the daily life of a 49er, and the struggles and hardships they endured. Along with the clever text, the book includes extremely detailed illustrations and a ledger that Thomas keeps. Both help tremendously with comprehension of the book, and with making the book more entertaining.
Mentor Writing Traits: (1) Voice – The author portrays incredible passion for the topic throughout the book, and brings the witty main character to life through carefully crafted language. (2) Idea – The topic of the California Gold Rush is one that is captivating for young readers (3) Word Choice – The text paints an especially vivid picture through choice words and phrases not commonly found in children’s books, such as “vexing”, “land of plenty”, and “wondrous sight”.
Classroom Integration: This would be a great mentor text to start a unit on historical fiction, especially if the students were to create their own fictitious story set in some historical event or era. Additionally, the teacher could use this as a tool to engage students in using creativity and word choice to liven their writing pieces.
Other Suggestions: I would suggest this book as being appropriate for readers in approximately fifth grade, due to the vocabulary and relatively complicated subject matter. As an additional idea for integration in the classroom, this book could spur a mathematics lesson due to its extensive use of a personal ledger.
May 9, 2013
Interestingly, this book fell under both the "fiction" and "non-fiction" categories on my shelves. It gave real information, but the three main characters (and therefore their experiences) are fictional. Several of the other characters were real, though, and this book gave me enough information that it was interesting.
The illustrations were intriguing, too.
The illustrations were intriguing, too.
June 3, 2009
A fun way to learn history!
Want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews