West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi

Dear America

by Jim Murphy

The first humorous book in the Dear America series follows an Italian girl's immigrant family as they move from New York City to a utopian community in the frontier West.

While traveling in 1883 with her Italian American family (including a meddlesome little sister) and other immigrant pioneers to a utopian community in Idaho, fourteen-year-old Teresa keeps a diary of her experiences along the way.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Historical, Diary

204 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1998

About the author

An American author of more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children, young adults, and general audiences, including more than 30 about American history. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for his contribution in writing for teens. Jim lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, in a hundred-year-old house with his wife Alison Blank, a children’s TV producer and children’s book author and editor, his two talented musician sons, a regal mutt, an African water frog that will live forever, and a house vast collection of books..

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now as someone who was always (as both a child and as a teenager) having recurring family-based struggles with my siblings (and in particular with my younger sister), I have definitely enjoyed West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi and have certainly found fourteen year old Teresa’s fictional journal entries regarding in particular her sibling rivalries both realistic and very much accurate. And furthermore and most appreciatively, especially Teresa’s narrative voice, it is delightfully and also rather unexpectedly so gender appropriate and authentic, with author Jim Murphy having both his main diarist (Teresa Angelino Viscardi) and also sometime (and indeed often pesky and sneaky) secondary narrator younger sister Netta sounding and feeling like typical girls, and not like a male author pretending to be, masquerading as a girl.

In fact (and in my humble opinion), I would definitely say that ALL of the scenarios described in West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi and equally so ALL of the featured characters, they do tend to mostly feel wonderfully authentic and realistic, vacillating from negativity to positivity, from humour to tragedy (and with Jim Murphy’s text in the guise of his first person narrator Teresa and to a certain extent Netta also showing not only family dysfunction but also family togetherness and fortitude, but happily also very clearly presenting the fact and truth that much of the heartbreak Teresa and her family have to experience on the trail is totally due to the father and his older brother’s utopian dreams and their tendency to without much thinking plunge into things so to speak, such as for example, the entire trip west to Idaho, and Poppa and Uncle Ernesto then also insisting on trying to mine for silver, even when there are disease and death stalking the weary and fearful travellers).

Readable, engagingly penned and with Teresa Angelino Viscardi a featured fictional diarist whom I would definitely consider quite the kindred spirit, West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi has been both a reading pleasure and also much informative and enlightening, and yes, also the best and most authentic and emotional instalment in the Dear America series of fictional diaries I have read thus far. But I do have to wonder a bit why the book description considers West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi as supposedly being mostly humorous in nature. For while Jim Murphy’s text, whilst Teresa’s and also Netta’s journal entries are certainly often imbued with sarcasm, humour and irony, the depictions of hardship, disease and death certainly are not something in any manner funny, and I do therefore have a bit of trouble understanding why the book blurb on Goodreads insists on labelling West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi as somehow being mostly light-hearted and fun.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It features a unique spin on the common Westward Expansion theme in the Dear America stories because the Viscardi family is traveling by train to form a utopian community in Idaho. However, I think the real standout in this book is the family dynamic. Particularly the relationship between Teresa and her younger sister Antoinetta. To a lesser extent I think the relationship between her father and uncle was also very interesting, and unfortunately the rest of the family is not as fleshed out as these four characters. That said, I think that the relationship between Teresa and her sister is one of the most believable and endearing sibling relationships in the entire series. That in itself is enough for me to recommend this book. However, there were other parts that I enjoyed also, such as the fact that Teresa keeps up a correspondence with her teacher from New York throughout her journey west. I also loved the fact that Teresa doesn't end up marrying the story's love interest in the epilogue. Almost every Dear America book has the main character end up marrying whatever boy she likes in the story no matter how childish or insignificant their relationship is. Just a pet peeve of mine. Overall this is a great DA book and I definitely recommend it.

[Kjsmit11 · Rating 5 out of 5]

West to a Land of Plenty is a diary written by Teresa Angelino Viscardi. She is a fourteen year old girl who lives in New York and travels to the Idaho Territory with her entire family. Teresa was devastated with the news that she had to move and leave her friends and education. Along the way, disease and illness troubled some of her family members and she was forced to travel a different path. Teresa was confronted with bandits along the way in which she was inclined to use her fathers gun to scare them off. Throughout this 100 day journey, Teresa became more and more mature and did not seem like the same 14 year old that left New York in 1883.

I would love to use this book in a history lesson for grades 3-5. As an incorporation of writing and history, I would like to have my students write a letter to Teresa. They could be a friend in New York writing to say that they wish her luck along her journey and how much they miss her. Another option of a letter could be written from someone who Theresa met along her journey. Really, a letter could be written by so many different people who Teresa interacted with along her way to the Idaho Territory.

[Kelsey Hanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has a younger sister who used to read my diary, I will say that the sisterly relationship of this novel is pretty accurate. This book was surprisingly heartfelt and left me with a case of the feels (something I REALLY didn't need after finishing up "All the Light We Cannot See". This book was a unique look at a grueling journey.

[Peyton Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really different addition to this series in many ways, and I enjoyed it quite a bit for all the ways it was unique compared to the usual formula for this series. First, I love that it comes from two narrators - two sisters writing in the same diary. I loved getting to know them both and in the context of each other. Additionally, this leant itself to getting to know the other members of the Viscardi family, who all had their own interesting journeys alongside Teresa and Netta. Second, I love how gently and naturally Teresa grew into her own. It was small, baby steps, which is usually how it happens rather than one big singular moment of growth. And finally, and I think I wouldn’t have loved this at the age of the target audience, but I liked that there wasn’t a clearly defined ending, and some thing were explicitly left out of her recording. It left room for the imagination, and a promise of what came next without exploring it. My only beefs with this book was, as always, the handling of the Native Americans on this westward journey. It’s just going to be permanently hard, I think, to read stories about white colonialist settlement in North America without the cringe. But solid 4 stars for me on this one otherwise!

[Ana Mardoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

West to a Land of Plenty (Idaho Territory) / 0-590-73888-7

I was initially disappointed to see that this Dear America book would cover only the travel to Idaho, not the actual settlement once the journey was over. Recognizing that the long trip could potentially be boring for the reader, the author decided to focus largely on the family dynamics. This is a somewhat mixed bag, but the sibling rivalry between the initial narrator and her little sister (who also writes in the journal later, at regular intervals!) is quite poignant as the two girls learn to love each other over their long journey.

The eldest narrator matures dramatically throughout the novel, stepping up to the challenge of taking care of her family in the harshest circumstances. And, like all Dear America novels, a love interest is provided - but to my delight and surprise, the narrator does not marry her young love! In the Epilogue, it is noted that she turns him down for marriage, deciding that they are not a good match, and instead marries another some years later, in her late thirties. It may be a small thing, but I appreciate a Dear America novel that breaks the mold and doesn't insist that all childhood loves must be married, nor that marriage after thirty is an impossibility.

There are some things to watch for here that may not be appropriate for small children. The biggest issue is that the youngest narrator dies mid-journey, from a fever. To my knowledge, this is the only Dear America novel where a narrator dies, and it is fairly distressing. More subtly, the narrator's family presents some distasteful character traits which may or may not be somewhat racist (the family members are Italian immigrants). The matriarch of the family is stupid and shrewish and hounds her granddaughters for much of the first half of the novel. The father is spineless and foolish, and is willing to throw his life away after the foolish dreams of his older brother, despite the occasional realization that his brother is an arrogant idiot. The father does not listen to the good sense of his wife when considering these ventures, and the wife does not press the issue, for fear of being a 'bad' woman. And although they have experienced racism first-hand, they are willing to think the worst of the other immigrants, for being the 'wrong' race or religion.

Since the Dear America books are not written by the same authors, it is difficult to say if this family characterization is meant to be realistically flawed or potentially racist, so I'd just say to use your best judgment when discussing this book with your children.

~ Ana Mardoll

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the spring of 1883, fourteen-year-old Teresa Viscardi and her large Italian-American family, which includes her, her younger brother and sister, her parents, her aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandmother, leave their home in New York City and decide to head west to Idaho to participate in the founding of a utopian community. The community is to be called Opportunity, but Teresa isn't of the feeling that the west is filled with opportunity. She wants to return to New York City, where her friends and home are. Instead, she's stuck, first on a crowded train, and then on a covered wagon caravan, with her annoying family, of which her grandmother and sister are the most annoying. Nanna is stubbornly traditional, and pesky Netta reads Teresa's private diary. But when tragedy strikes, Teresa realizes how much her family means to her, and she may be the only one who can save them from disaster. I highly reccomend this excellent addition to the Dear America series. It's a great read if you like historical fiction, stories about pioneer life, or the other books in the series.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear America is one of my favorite "series" to read. I hadn't read this particular one in years so I decided to give it a whirl. I wasn't overly impressed. I was disappointed in the beginning with Teresa's attitude. I had a hard time reading because I felt like her thoughts were very jumbled. It was also a little confusing with Netta, her little sister, also writing in the diary. But the history was interesting, and I do like to read about emigrants.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

ok so im on page 45 and i dont like it that much! maybe because its written by a guy! anyways i hate it how her little sister writes in the diary too,and it seems so ungirly i dont know its weird uit feels like shes not writing sincerly like some of the other diraires ive read probabaly because its written by a guy!

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of all the Dear America's, this one is my least favorite. There are a couple reasons for that. I felt like I didn't get a good sense of who Teresa really is because too much focus was put on her sister, Netta. There were a few typos and it is unnecessary for each entry to finish with the word "end," as if they were telegrams.

[Musiquedevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this Dear America book more like 3 and a half stars. As an avid Dear America fan this wasn't my most favorite. However, it was written well and gave insight into America's expansion out west into Idaho. I enjoyed the details and learning about a different trip out west. If you're a fan of the Oregon Trail and its stories, you'll enjoy this too.

[The Library Lady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Proof that while women can usually write convincingly in men's voices, it isn't always the same when the tables are turned.

Murphy writes excellent NON-fiction for kids, but he isn't that much shakes as a fiction writer. And Teresa's voice just doesn't feel real through his stilted prose.

[Kara Kuehl · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, I really did not like this book very much. Generally I enjoy the Dear America books, but this one was not great. See my comments below for specific examples.

Things to be aware of in “West to a Land of Plenty”

Language:
- A mention of “colorful language” (no elaboration)
- 4 “stupid”
- 2 “shut up” (including one instance of a teenager saying it to a grandmother) (-1 star)
- 2 “damd” (and a few other variations)

Violence:
- A character hits another character in the shoulder.
- Numerous characters die via drowning, sickness and other causes
- A character’s clothing catches on fire
- Some characters are nearly shot
- A teenager handles a gun and haphazardly shoots it (I understand dramatic effect but this was way too much!)

Romantic Content:
- Hand holding and brief kisssing among 14-year olds

Spiritual Content:
(-1 star)
This was so disappointing to me! There was so many missed opportunity to present the gospel!
- The majority of the main characters are Catholic.
- Mass is mentioned
- “Momma does not trust the Irish and they are Catholic like us.”
- “I said five prayers this morning. Two to the Little Madonna of Trappeto, one to the Sweet Baby Jesus, one to His Holy Father in Heaven, and one to Saint Anselm of the Five Wounds.”
- One statement of “God punishes nosy girls.”
- A mention of pray to your “own God.”
- A mention of a “bottle of holy water” that a character carries.
- Prayers are said for characters who have passed away.

Additional Notes:
(-1 star)
- Mentions of hating other people (specifically adults in a child’s life - parents, grandparents, uncles, etc.)
- There are disputes among siblings (primarily sister vs sister). There is no major content to note about the disagreements other than they do not hold each other very highly (often saying the other is annoying or makes her so mad).
- Mention of a land being millions of years old.
- “What use is a pistol to a girl?” “The same as for a boy.”


Read my full review here: https://kbook-reviews.blogspot.com/20...

[Erin Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated this entry in the Dear America series, particularly the author's experimentation with the "voice" of the diary. This is the only(?) Dear America with two narrators, which allows for a good deal of humor as well as a suspenseful ending. I also enjoyed the relationship-building between Teresa and her father over the course of their journey. I could have been friends with Teresa. She was pretty awesome.

Caveat: as with all of the "westward expansion" Dear Americas, this volume doesn't do a great job portraying the Indigenous communities that the character interacts with. This book was, however, better than some of the others, as it shows the Sioux helping the Americans across a tough river fording, vaguely points at the existence of Anglo-Indigenous marriages, and gestures towards the Americans' biases in (mis)identifying nefarious intent in a specific cultural practice of the Sioux. As always, i recommend parents and teachers using these books as instructional materials seek out complimentary Indigenous-produced resources for the time period. If anyone has any to recommend, please drop them in the comments!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, but not the best. Teresa's uncle decides that the whole extended family should move west to Idaho where a rich man is founding a community that includes everyone, even Sicilians. Teresa is upset about moving and leaving her friends and she justifiably stays that way, even after she meets another girl her age two thirds of the way into the book. In the beginning, on the train to the Dakotas where the railroad ends, it was hard to get a sense that Teresa was on a train with her family of ten and everyone else from their street. It's tough to convey that crowded, nosy, atmosphere, and it wasn't there. Teresa only interacts with her mother, father, grandma, and sassy little sister who is mature for her years and keeps writing in Teresa's diary. There is a boy on the train who is sweet on her. That's a running drama. Eventually, the train disembarks and the families headed for Utopia have to purchase their pioneer supplies. The wagon train finally gets rumbling, and a bunch of grumpy New Yorkers cross the prairie, which ends up in a mess with various groups splitting up and assuming they'll find each other later. Teresa survives, but not everyone does. It's sad. It's okay. Teresa's a good egg. It's important to remember that a person could be crossing the prairie in a covered wagon and someone could ride up to you out of the middle distance and say, "Denver has electric lights now!" American history is short.

[Destiny Velazquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m going to be honest the book, West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi by, Jim Murphy , is not one of my favorite books. However, the storyline is unique than most. The
young girl Teresa Angelino Viscardi has done more things than a usual, nowadays 14-year-old girl. While traveling with her Italian, American family she has been through funny, sad and some pretty weird events. For example, how young boy and her have mixed emotions for each other. Like, at one point they’re happy and laughing with each other and then, the other one of them is ignoring someone one. However, what I do like about this book, is the fact that it is written as if it was a diary along with the fact that her little sister, Antonietta also writes in the diary giving off some more funny moments about her life and showing a different perspective on the situation that they both go through. As a young girl I cannot imagine how would be to be put in the situation, Teresa had patience and the thought of me in her situation would not make a good outcome because I am not able to stay in one place for long and I’m not good when it comes to traveling. However even though this book is not my favorite I do think it might be a favorite and recommend this book to people who enjoy reading books where it feels like you’re talking to the character and who enjoy adventure.

[Librarian Jessie (BibliophileRoses) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crying by the end of this book. Sorry, haha. I haven't read one of these novels since I was a wee little kid. I do not believe you could truly appreciate them until you are older as well.

As someone who once wrote avidly in a diary, I can confirm the way the little girl wrote in her diary is extremely accurate: Poor grammar & spelling, overly used punctuations, the endings and all. As someone who used to sign "JHR Out!" at the end of her diary entries thinking it made me appear more like a spy (or "The End" to make it appear as though it were a fairytale versus reality), I appreciated her saying "End. TAV" at the end of her diary entries.

I only wished the ending had included J.W. in a different sense, which I hope is not a spoiler to any who stumbles upon this review.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept hearing about these Dear America books and how they were very interesting and fantastic, so I decided why not check them out? Sure they are children/young adult books but even fully grown I'm still a bit of a kid at heart so that never bothers me. And with this being the first one I encountered, I thought it was ok; not stupendous, but still very readable.

Teresa and her family are on their way west to a place called Opportunity. After her uncle had noticed a flyer saying that fortunes could be made and good land could be farmed, he convinced her father to go and that was that. Teresa, her sister Netty, her grandmother, brothers, and parents took off. They first traveled by train as far west as they could go and from there set out by wagon pulled by oxen. It is a hard trip and a lot happens to Teresa and her family, but there's no good way to turn home so they must persevere despite all hardship.

This book is mainly told through the eyes of Teresa, and on occasion her sister Netty. While they are both strong female characters, I found that I wasn't really taken with either of them. Teresa was kind of gloomy, but despite that I still liked her better than her sister. Maybe its just being the older sibling but I found Netty to be extremely annoying and disliked when the book was in her view.

The book is written in diary format (hence the "Dear America") and while this is not my favorite format it was pretty easy to read. I did enjoy Teresa's entries more than Netty's but that's probably because I liked her better as a characters. In non diary format there was an epilogue but it was so small that it didn't really change the dynamic of the book. The trip was interesting but full of historical inaccuracies. Granted most of the younger people reading this would never realize this fact, but I think if you're going to write a book based on history, do a little research first. Once I got over this error though the book was very interesting and I liked the concept of the book.

I'll probably end up reading more Dear America books. They're interesting, if the research is done right probably informative, and I think that its a good book for a family to share. If I ever have kids I'll probably choose this as a book to share with them.

West to a Land of Plenty
Copyright 1998
201 pages including maps, pictures, and information at the back of the book

Review by M. Reynard 2011

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Teresa and her family that move New Jersey to Idaho in 1883. In this day and age that wouldn't be a major problem, of course. You'd buy a house there, sell your house here, get a rental truck, load you furniture and stuff then drive out to Idaho and move in to your new house.

Back then, however, things were a totally different manner. You could forget about the rental truck; such things wouldn't exist for a good while yet. You could also forget going directly to Idaho; a train could take you part of the way, but the rest of the distance you would have to travel by covered wagon.

You'd end up having to walk miles and miles (not everyone and everything could fit into the wagon at one time), have to put up with the weather, put up with the possibility of being attacked by bandits or Indians, and have to put up with becoming ill and not having any of the medical advances that we do today.

This novel does a good job of showing what type of life these people led and the difficulties they had to face in making such a move. It also ties in various other things going on at the time such as what was happening to the Native Americans, the lack of law-and-order, and the effects of gold and silver-rushes on regular people.

It's also not a "happy-happy" type novel, either, as not everyone makes it to the end of the trail alive. The problems and dangers they faced were very real and sometimes people just didn't live through the experience.

As always, there is also a good historical section, making this another really good book to read in the series

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

1883 Teresa, an Italian immigrant, journeys from NYC to Idaho Territory. The family travels by train from NY to Waterton, South Dakota. Family is Mom and Pop, older brother, Ernesto, Teresa, younger sister, Antoinetta, and Baby Tomas. Papa's older brother and his family accompany them, as well.

Train travel is so, so. The organizer of the trip, a Mr. Anderson, has placed a helper with each family. The helper will lend his experience in Waterton, when purchasing wagons, oxen, and food supplies for the western leg of the trip. Mr. Anderson will purchase 3 wagons, one of which will be a hearse for his dead son. His son is pereserved in alcohal. This is a documented fact!

I actually cried reading this one. The drama on the wagon trail was just one calamity after another. If you played Oregon Trail in school, you know how perilous river crossings were. Broken down wagons, fevers, Indians, these people were survivers!

[Ashley Diller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book West to a Land of Plenty, the Dairy of Teresa Angelino Viscardi by: Jim Murphy. Gave me a lot of information on Teresa Angelino Viscardi and her family. The book was about this girl Angelino Viscardi and her family they were moving to a country with more land.


My personal opinion is sometimes in the book it gave you some information but not all I really wanted to know about her. When they were on the trip to were they wanted to move I thought that why did they have to get on and off the train because when you are on a train in the new days we would just stay on till we got were we wanted. We did not have to get on and off but that's my opinion.

I think the book The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi would be a good book for people that have a thing for adventure and to learn about peoples life back in the days. I would rate this book at 4 out of 5 because I loved all the adventure and I loved to learn about her.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Historical Fiction) I like the Dear America series because it is a great way to incorporate history and writing into reading. They are written in a diary style and include topics such as immigration, colonization, and the American frontier. This particular one focuses on the American frontier through the eyes of a young girl named Teresa. Her family moves from New York to Idaho in the late 1800s.

My favorite part is when the family sees their first cowboy. I think most of us today know what a cowboy is, but it made me think about what it would be like to see a cowboy for the first time in person.

I would use this in a 3-5th grade classroom to integrate a history lesson on the American frontier as well as introduce autobiographical writing.

[Young Adult Historical Vault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently written with a plot that moves along at a good clip, with plenty of humour and drama for leavening, this is a very solid and readable entry in the Dear America series. I really enjoyed that Teresa, the protagonist, is a weaker writer--it's just a nice change from all the novels that begin with "I love writing and reading!" and so on. It's more colloquial and less literary, which makes for a lovely change.

For my full review and recap, check out Young Adult Historical Vault https://yahistoricalvault.com/2016/06...

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was really bored because nothing much was happening. I couldn't help but think 'these wagon trails were brutal ordeals, where is that?'. There were brief moments of it, but it mostly read like a long travel story. Then Murphy made up for the first 100+ pages of less excitment with a sudden, brutal and heartbreaking punch in the gut. And then yes, he shows us just how terrible and devestating those wagon trails were.

[Cinnamon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teresa was not happy about leaving her friends and school in New York for the wilds of Idaho. But her father is determined to help create a community in the territories where a man can be anything that he wants to be. During the long train ride to the Dakota Territories, Teresa is miserable and homesick. The only things that keep her going are her diary and the glimpses of a handsome young man. But when they join a wagon train, Teresa learns her own power and comes out of her shell.

[Renae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. It's a little different from some of the others. For starters, the main character, Teresa, starts out a little bit of a brat. Not the best attitude--which I actually enjoyed. That, and she shares her diary with her little sister Netta for much of the book, so you get both of their perspectives about the trip.

[Wynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "West to a Land of Plenty" was a good book. It started out very slow, not much happened. I found myself pushing myself to read it because I was not absorbing any of the words. When I finally got to the middle of the book things started to pick up and I really enjoyed it. I loved the ending, though it was somewhat sad I didn't see it coming.

[Crystel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book taught me a valueable lesson, but was so wonderful I wanted to cry out buckets. There are sad parts, happy parts, parts that made you want to cry, jump, just go, "Whaa..", but just amazing.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

simply ok - i usually learn something from these early America books, but don't recall anything here.occasionally there were comments about the sicily the family originally left and that was interesting.