The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds - Rodman Philbrick

The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds : The Donner Party Expedition, 1846

by Rodman Philbrick

★★★★★

Summary

This is a journal style book written from the point of view of 16 year old Douglas Deeds in 1846.  He is alone, just him and his horse until he joins up with the Donner Party as they head toward the Oregon Territory. He is loyal to the party, even when they hit hard times and he could have left.  He and the Donner party cross with many hardships, including the issue of cannibalism when members of the party are dying and others are starving to death. 

Review 

Love, Love, Love this series!  This is a wonderful historical fiction piece based on the true story of the fated Donner Party.  The story of the Donner Party is a hard one to speak to students about, but this book does a wonderful job of explaining it from a young man's point of view.  I would recommend this book for small book groups for mature 5-6th graders.  5-8th grade students could learn a lot about the Oregon Trail and the hard decisions that had to be made to survive just 160 years ago in American History.  The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds is book 13 in the "My Name is America" book series, a series for middle grade boys. 

Technical Stuff (From Amazon)

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.; 1st edition (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439216001
• ISBN-13: 978-0439216005