My America: Westward To Home: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary, Book One

My America: Westward To Home: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary, Book One by Hermes, Patricia. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780439112093.

In book one of this diary of life on the Oregon Trail, Pat Hermes tells the story of Joshua McCulloughs familys experiences as they pack up their belongings and head west in a wagon train. It is 1848 when Joshua McCullough and his family leave their home in St. Joseph, Missouri, and set off for Oregon on a wagon train. During their seven-month-long journey, many of the other families on the trail suffer devastating losses, but Joshuas is spared. However, Joshua must conquer his fear of water during the many river crossings the wagon train must make. During one dramatic crossing, Joshua heroically dives into a rushing river to save his younger sister Becky. The battered wagon train reaches Oregon after traveling over two thousand miles.