Beautifully illustrated and hopeful story of a pioneer family building a life for themselves in difficult circumstances.

Zoe and her father moved to town for a few days and she brings a patch of dandelions with her. She and her father want to surprise Mama with these dandelions because this patch of dandelions reminds Mama of home. This book is great for students who are adjusting to change in their life and I will definitely use this in my classroom.

lovely story ( )

This book tells of a family’s journey Westward in hopes of finding a new home. The beautiful illustrations help the reader understand the clothing of the time and how barren the land was where the family was settling. It tells of what supplies they used and needed on their journey. It shares the stories of how people interacted and helped each other. Dandelion shares the story of Zoe and her family. If you like the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories this is similar. I would recommend it kids who are already readers or as a classroom read aloud for younger students.

In my opinion this is a satisfactory book. The author’s illustrations are absolutely beautiful and really help the reader to understand what life was back out west in the 1800s. My favorite picture is where the viewer is looking at the back of the wagon pulling the cow, and the little girls are in the back of the wagon with their mother. The illustration helps the reader to picture the characters attire, as well as the lack of roads back in the 1800s. I think to many students this would be unexpected, and because of this, these illustrations are vital in the child’s understanding of the text. In addition to the beautiful pictures, the plot is ridden with conflict, which makes this book hard to put down. This is evident from the very first passage in the book. “Sometimes a river was easy to cross and sometimes hard, with Brownie and Blackie so frightened as they swam, and us holding on to them and the wagon too.” The constant conflicts and resolutions create great interest in the reader making the book all the more engaging. Overall, I think the main idea of this book is to never loose hope, and keep looking for the positives. ( )