Gold Rush Girl

Gold Rush Girl
Avi
Candlewick, 2020 320 pages
Grades 5-8
Historical Adventure

Fourteen-year-old Victoria (Tory) hates her conventional life. When her father catches "Gold Fever" and choses to take her younger brother on a long boat trip around the horn to the Diggings, Victoria dresses like a boy and stows away on the ship. After many months they arrive in San Francisco and the reality of the chaos that was the Gold Rush becomes apparent. Goods and services are greatly inflated, folks live in tents, and the streets are muddy ruts. Father leaves brother Jacob in Tory's charge with a little cash to survive and a tent to live in and takes off for the Diggings. Tory must learn to keep herself and her brother alive in this untamed city. She continues to dress like a boy and finds a job with a carpenter building houses. Meanwhile, Jacob is bored and lonely. When her brother disappears, Tory realizes her worst fears: he was kidnapped to work as a cabin boy on a ship about to leave port and father is expected back any day. What will happen if he returns and Tory lost her brother? She works with two of her friends to retrieve Jacob, encountering danger, roguish characters, and obstacles. Will Tory retrieve her brother before the ship departs? Will father ever return? What will become of Tory and her friends in this uncivilized place during this crazed time?

Avi is the king of historic adventure. This new title will expose readers to the crazy time of the California Gold Rush. I felt that this book was similar to Avi's Newbery honor winning title, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, maybe because it featured a spunky female protagonist and spent much of the plot aboard ships. For being a book about the Gold Rush, it should be noted that Tory never actually goes to where folks are digging for gold. The setting is entirely either in Rhode Island, on a ship, or in San Francisco. Life in Gold Rush San Francisco is interesting enough for any book. It is untamed, dirty and populated with desperadoes sick with gold-fever. Readers will enjoy seeing how Tory makes her way in this environment and survives while independently caring for her younger brother. Avi keeps the language appropriate to the time and place and transports the reader to this important chapter in history. The challenges of living within this culture as either a person of color or as a woman is explored, giving readers something further to ponder and discuss. Perfect for historical fiction book reports or simply pleasure reading, this new title will be enjoyed by a variety of readers looking for a good yarn.