Along the Santa Fe Trail: Marion Russell's Own Story

An adaptation of the author's biography, Land of Enchantment, describes her eventful 1852 journey with her mother and brother from Kansas to California over the Santa Fe trail in a large wagon train.

Grade 2-3-Wadsworth has adapted Russell's memoirs of traveling as part of a wagon train in 1851 on the Santa Fe Trail from Kansas, with her widowed mother and her brother, headed for California. The narrative shows the child's daily routine as she comments on the sights and stops along the way, the weather, the lack of water, the animals they encountered, and the hostile and friendly Indians. The flowing text is complemented by Watling's evocative paintings of placid buffalo, the wagon train in a storm, and the bustle of Santa Fe. Unexpectedly, the trip doesn't end in California, but in Albuquerque, after Marion's mother's money and jewels are stolen and she is unable to pay for the rest of the journey. A route map is provided, as is an afterword explaining what happened to Marion and her family and friends. A solid choice as a personalized view of westward expansion or a browser for history buffs, told from a woman's point of view.
Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1852, seven-year-old Marion Russell, her mother and brother traveled in a train of 500 wagons along the Santa Fe Trail, from Fort Leavenworth, Kans., to California. Wadsworth, whose children's biographies include accounts of John Muir and Rachel Carson, has adapted Russell's memoirs of the tumultuous journey, which were transcribed by her daughter in the 1920s. As she explains in a foreword, Wadsworth preserved Marion's "eloquent voice" as much as possible. Her flowing first-person narrative contains lovely descriptive passages ("The vast open country that is gone from us forever rippled like a silver sea in the sunshine"), as well as such engaging particulars as Russell's frustration at not being able to reach all the buttons in the back of her dress ("Why couldn't they have been put in front where I could get at them?"). Watling's art pays similar attention to period details. Whether depicting a glorious sunset on the plains or the bustling streets of Santa Fe, his polished colored ink and colored pencil pictures are historically accurate and filled with energy. Ages 7-11.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lively with authentic detail, mostly (according to a note) in the original words of Marion Sloan Russell (1845-1936) as recorded by her daughter-in-law in the 20's: an account of the first of Marion's many journeys on the trail from Kansas to Santa Fe, when, in 1852, her widowed mother agreed to become cook for some army officers. Wadsworth has chosen well, including homely details of daily life, children's games, descriptions of the strange, beautiful land, and a taste of earlier attitudes (``sometimes, far away, we hear the war whoop of the Indians''). Watling, a British-born Canadian, provides dramatic, well- designed watercolors with panoramic sweeps that are rich in detail, though depicting tepees on a New Mexican mesa is an unfortunate lapse. Otherwise, excellent source material. Note on Russell's later life. (Autobiography/Picture book. 7-11) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 3-5. In a faithful adaptation of Land of Enchantment: Memoirs of Marion Russell Along the Santa Fe Trail, seven-year-old Marion describes her experiences with her widowed mother and older brother as part of a wagon train. Recorded by her daughter-in-law when Marion was 80 years old, the first-person narrative has the perspective of an adult ("Between the two night circles . . . was a no-man's land which the children used as a playground"). As acknowledged in the foreword, Marion's attitudes toward Indians as either savages or exotics reflect the time and place in which she lived. The illustrations in colored ink and colored pencil capture the setting through the haze of memory. Conveying a sense of the danger, boredom, and natural beauty that accompanied these trailblazers, this book deserves a place in large regional or pioneer collections. No bibliographic information is provided for the source. Julie Corsaro