The View From The Foothills

This is a children’s history of the California Gold Rush; it’s published
by Scholastic and is written for kids aged 7 and 8. It’s meant to be
simple enough for the kids to read to themselves. But David saw it at a
book fair at his school, and since we’d recently read a book that takes
place during the Gold Rush (By the Great Horn Spoon), he
grabbed it and I read it aloud to him over four nights (one per chapter).

On the whole, I’m impressed by this little book. Though it’s written for
kids, it isn’t dumbed down; in particular, it speaks in specifics rather
than in vague generalities. The illustrations include many photographs
and engravings from the Gold Rush era, including a couple of fascinating
advertising broadsheets. All in all, it packs quite a bit of information
into 48 pages in large type (there’s even a glossary and an index).

I don’t expect that many of my readers will ever be in a position to buy
this book, let alone read it; but if you need such a thing you could do
much worse.