Historical fiction leads to understanding

Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner is a family adventure story that shares a little historical information, teaches some valuable lessons, and has an engaging plot and characters.

Daddy, Willie, Little Brother and Johnny are going to build a house in Nicodemus, Kansas. They came all the way from Kentucky. It was a hard and sad trip. Mama had died on the way.

In Kansas, they built a dugout. Daddy wanted to build a wood house but they didn’t have enough time because winter was coming. When the weather turned cold, they couldn’t hunt and that created new challenges. All they had to eat was cornmeal, and then the cornmeal ran out and there wasn’t any wood to build a fire. There was no food in the entire town.

One day the Indians came to their town. Everyone was really scared, but the Indians each dropped something on the ground and rode away. The town went out to check what they had left. It was food and firewood! There was a feast that night and the people of Nicodemus learned a valuable lesson about judging others.

One day, Daddy went to search for better land and he left the boys in Nicodemus. The boys took care of themselves while Daddy was gone, and were able to keep themselves safe from a prairie fire. After this, the boys got a letter from Daddy, stating that he had found better land. The letter included a map so that the boys could go to him. After reading the letter, the boys packed up and left. It took them 22 days to get to Daddy, but in the end they were reunited and they were so happy.

I liked a lot of things about Wagon Wheels. My favorite part was when the boys made a trip that took 22 days to complete just to get to their father. I kind of didn’t like it when Daddy left the boys by themselves. This is a good book for those who like tales of the Old West and adventures. It is a relatively easy read and may be something that you can share with your younger brothers and sisters.