First the Land, Then Fire Nearly Destroys Them. Will They Still Hold to their Dream? It had taken four long, difficult years to tame the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. Looking back through all the heartache and the body-breaking labor, Ingeborg Bjorkland knew that God had been with them every step of the way. Dreams that had turned into veritable nightmares had been reshaped with the promise of a new day rising, and her marriage to Haaken had been its sure sign.Hjelmer travels west to work on the railroad, and after sending only one letter to Penny, who has agreed to wait for him, he is not heard from again. As the months pass, Penny is pursued by other eligible suitors, and her love for Hjelmer is sorely tried. Will he ever return to keep his promise? America's westward expansion continues, bringing the railroad to their area. Before them lies the challenge of proving up their homesteads, developing a sense of community, building wooden barns and houses, a schoolhouse and a church, a grain elevator and store.

Proud of Their Heritage and Sustained by Their Faith, They Came to Tame a New Land She had promised herself that once they left the fjords of Norway, she would not look back. After three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund, along with their son, Thorliff, finally arrive at the docks of New York City. It was the promise of free land that fed their dream and lured them from their beloved home high above the fjords of Norway in 1880. Together with Roald's brother Carl and his family, they will build a good life in a new land that promises untold wealth and vast farmsteads for their children. As they join the throngs of countless immigrants passing through Castle Garden, they soon discover that nothing is as they had envisioned it. Appalled by the horrid stories of fellow immigrants bilked of all their money and forced to live in squalid living conditions, the Bjorklunds continue their long journey by train as far as Grand Forks. From there a covered wagon takes them into Dakota Territory, where they settle on the banks of the Red River. But there was no way for them to foresee the price they will have to pay to wrest a living from the indomitable land. The virgin prairie refuses to yield its treasure without a struggle. Will they be strong enough to overcome the hardships of that first winter?

It is 1941 in rual California. Paula Harmon and Ken Nishimura have been friends and neighbours for as long as they can remember. But around them racial tension mounts as World War II intensifies and Pearl Harbor is bombed. Suddenly, Ken and his family are considered enemies in their own country and Paula and Ken's friendship is tested by the horrifying events that follow. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

Successive events challenge the Bjorklund family as Kaaren delivers a baby who is deaf, Solveig, Kaaren's younger sister, is injured in a train wreck, and Penny despairs over whether Hjelmer will ever return for her.

Winner! Western Writers of America 2020 Spur Award - Best Western Juvenile Fiction Category. In 1933, what's left of the Turner family--twelve-year-old Hallie and her two brothers--finds itself driving the back roads of rural America. The children have been swept up into a new migratory way of life. America is facing two devastating crises: the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands of people in cities across the country have lost jobs. In rural America it isn't any better as crops suffer from the never-ending drought. Driven by severe economic hardship, thousands of people take to the road to seek whatever work they can find, often splintering fragile families in the process. As the Turner children move from town to town, searching for work and trying to cobble together the basic necessities of life, they are met with suspicion and hostility. They are viewed as outsiders in their own country. Will they ever find a place to call home? New York Times-bestselling author Sandra Dallas gives middle-grade readers a timely story of young people searching for a home and a better way of life.

The Brutal Road West It’s late summer 1838. President Martin Van Buren issues an order that the fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina are to be evicted from their homeland. Forced to migrate to Indian Territory, the Cherokees begin their tragic, one-thousand-mile journey westward. Most of the seven thousand soldiers escorting them along the way are brutally cruel. But Cherokee Rose, an eighteen-year-old Indian girl, finds one soldier, Lieutenant Britt Claiborne, willing to stand up for them. Both Christians, Cherokee Rose discovers that Britt is also a quarter Cherokee himself. It’s upon the Trail of Tears that they fall in love, dreaming of one day marrying and finding a place to call home together. They found each other in the midst of tragedy… But is their love enough to keep them together? Cherokee Rose has endured more than any eighteen-year-old girl should. Though accepted by her tribe, being both mixed blood and a Christian set her apart. Then fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians are evicted from their homes in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Broken and angry, Cherokee Rose joins her people on the thousand-mile trek westward to Indian Territory. The journey holds many trials—not the least of which is the cruelty of the soldiers escorting them. But Cherokee Rose is determined: these men will not break her. Lieutenant Britt Claiborne is devoted to serving his country, but he detests the way his fellow soldiers treat the Indians. He not only refuses to join in, but does all he can to stop the abuse. To the soldiers, he is a traitor. To those he helps, a champion. But Britt knows he’s only doing what he must, not just because he’s a Christian, but for a reason he’s reluctant to reveal. Thrown together in the face of brutality, these two find themselves falling in love. They dream of marrying and finding a place to call home. But can their love survive the Trail of Tears? “Cherokee Rose is a good story and a great way to learn about a historical event we would rather sweep under the rug.” --Lauraine Snelling, bestselling author of Amethyst Story Behind the Book Long captivated with the study of American history, Al and JoAnna Lacy eagerly researched the time in the 1800s when the five “civilized tribes” were forced by the U.S. government to make a one-thousand-mile journey to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma). The tribes were the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Seminole. Repeatedly forced to surrender their lands, the people of the Cherokee Nation, as well as those of the other four tribes, were hoping to find in Indian Territory a place to call home .