Characters: John Sutter (rich landowner near Coloma, California) & James Marshall (Carpenter hired by Sutter)

Setting: California Gold Rush 1848 (San Fransisco)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Theme:California History, Gold Discovery & Tales

Audience: Preschool to 4th grade students

Summary: The author uses bright and colorfull illustrations with excerpts of letters and journals to tell the story of how gold was discovered and how many people came to
California from different places.

Curriculum ties: California History-Students can learn about the lifestyle of Californians during 1848 during the Gold Rush. Student can also link this to geogrhapy by mapping the place where immigrants came from.

Personal response: This collection narrates the experience of the California Gold Rush which is very important for children to understand the impact of the Gold Rush had in the history and the development of California. I really like this book because the bright illustrations are very appealing to children.

This book gave numerous accounts of the california gold rush of 1869. It told about the people that were coming across land, over the ocean by boat and what they went through. This book was more quotes than enjoyable text. I wouldn't recomend reading this book for a fun, easy read. It should be used to help on a research paper possibly instead of a read aloud becuase of how the book is laid out.

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