Books in The Amish Frontier Series series

The Yoder family packs up and moves once again—this time to join other Amish families in Colorado where inexpensive farmland is plentiful. Despite the drought, Mother's illness, and a raging wildfire, the family quickly adapts to life in their new homeland.Along the way young Joe, intrigued with the exciting stories of the area's gold rush and dreaming of an easier life, tries his hand at gold panning. One adventure leads to another, but it's the chance meeting with an older gentleman—who had panned for gold most of his life—in which Joe learns some of life's truly golden lessons. Together, the old man and the boy discover real treasure.Based on actual events from a time long ago, this unforgettable story from the Amish Frontier Series, perfect for ages 8 to 12, brings to life the Yoder family's struggle to live a life of faith on the Colorado frontier.

The year 1894 brings hard times to the Yoders. When Father reads that free land is available in faraway North Dakota, the family packs up, says goodbye to family and friends, and boards the train for what they believe will be a better life out West. As soon as they step from the train onto the windswept prairie, however, they realize they have much to learn about homesteading.They hurry to build their thatched-roof, sod house even as they plant a garden and till the fields. With each new experience—including the wildfire and long cold winter—they learn to trust God, embrace the pioneer spirit, and watch hardship turn into valuable life lessons.Based on actual events from a time long ago, this unforgettable story from The Amish Frontier Series, perfect for ages 8 to 12, brings to life the Yoder family's move from a close-knit community to a pioneer life where they quickly discover how God is faithful to help in every situation.

Randolph Marcy’s detailed guide must have seemed a godsend to nineteenth century Americans contemplating the long, hazardous journey to a new life in the west. Imagine their questions—and fears. What if we are attacked! Where will we find water? Will I run out of supplies? This volume answers it all. It describes all the needs for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and even necessities the prospective traveler might have overlooked. It includes a landmark-oriented chart with mileage between points and resources, hazards, and such at each point and in-between. Reading the details, one wonders how anyone could have survived the journey without this critical information. For the modern reader, this is not necessarily survival reading; it’s really fascinating stuff. You begin to appreciate what our ancestors endured in completing the expansion of the American nation to the Pacific shores. And for the historians and novelists among us, what an incredible resource!

William F. Drannan, according to this classic volume, led a singular and exciting life. Some modern readers, shall we say, suggest that he has exaggerated a bit. Some even call his work a hoax. Most readers, however, don’t care whether Drannan actually knew Kit Carson, General Crook, and famous others of the Old West or whether he just borrowed their names to create an exciting and wonderfully entertaining series of tales. So suspend your disbelief. Pour a cup or glass or your favorite beverage, lean back, and prepare for adventure.

"This illuminating book offers unique insight into the making of the seminal album Pet Sounds, revealing the intimate processes that went into its creation and featuring brand-new interviews with key players. From conception and composition to arrangement and production, the ways in which Pet Sounds changed the face of American popular music are chronicled. While Pet Sounds carries the tag of being a Beach Boys record, this lively exposé reveals just how little input the rest of the band had in its recording. Illustrating Brian Wilson's prodigious talent, the book chronicles his ability to turn his back on the protest songs and folk-rock of his contemporaries, and even on the bright surf sound of his own creation, in order to reach deep within himself to make music that struck an emotional chord and touched people’s souls. Wilson’s ability to embrace the rapidly advancing recording technology of the 1960s and to expertly blend rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues, and jazz sounds with velvety harmonies and sensitive melodies to create a brand-new studio sound are discussed. An intimate portrait of Wilson’s family, breakdown, and drug use is included."

"This compelling story of the writing and recording of Led Zeppelin IV is full of passionate insights into the mayhem, madness, and creative processes behind one of the most influential albums of all time. This book explains how Led Zeppelin, recognized as the first true rock gods with three platinum albums in quick succession, had been shrouded in intrigue, with legendary tales of debauched excesses, orgies, black magic, and satanic pacts. Included are details on how a clever studio deal afforded the band total artistic freedom to create an explosive and massive new sound with a heavy sex groove that would redefine rock music and create an entirely new genre: heavy metal. The exhaustive track-by-track analysis includes commentary on “Stairway to Heaven,” “Black Dog,” and “Rock and Roll.”"

The title, in this case, does not tell the whole story. Yes, Ezra Meeker early on takes on the character and reputation of an ox-team driver on the legendary Oregon Trail. As adventurous as this phase of his adulthood is, however, it is only the his first of many occupational identities. Meeker’s story begins with a somewhat typical but engaging chronicle of his Indiana childhood and his trek toward a future in the pioneer days West. After a spell on the famous trail, he sets out on other escapades—and thrilling ones they are. He encounters various Native-American tribes, vast buffalo herds; he travels with wagon trains of hardy pioneers, encountering hostile Indians and crossing dangerous streams; He becomes one of the early settlers of the Northwest, establishing his family there before venturing off to the gold fields. In the early twentieth century, in his mid-sixties, he is again an ox-team driver, this time on the long journey to the nation’s capitol as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Oregon trail. There, he is honored by none other than the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.

PARENTLESS at a young age, young Christopher Carson escapes his unfeeling guardian and sets out for what was to become Missouri. What young Carson himself was to become would be one of the greatest of all the legendary mountain men. Finding his way to Santa Fe on the famous trail, he meets up with the trappers and traders and the rest is history. Ellis’s telling of the life of Kit Carson is more than the dry chronicling of who, where, and when. A prolific writer of fact and fiction in his own name or in pseudonym, Ellis unravels the adventures of his subject in thrilling detail: enduring hard winters, pursuing Crow and Blackoot horse thieves, fending off grizzlies! Kit Carson’s reputation precedes him in his wanderings. He meets John C. Fremont and is commissioned as guide for the famous explorer’s first western expedition—the first of three in which he would take part. For his exploits in the U.S.–Mexican War, Carson was awarded a commission in the U.S. Army. Briefly turning to ranching, he is soon called back to lend his valuable services so many depended upon.

East of the high Sierras of California lies an arid land of hardy but remarkable flora and fauna—and equally remarkable people. Mary Austin has captured and wonderfully described this place and its living things in this classic volume. A prolific writer, friend of H.G. Wells, Jack London, and other notables, Mary Austin was well acquainted with the flowers, the valleys and hills, the still-hopeful prospectors, the indigenous peoples keeping touch as best they could with an ancient way of life. This is her tribute to that special land and its inhabitants in the waning years of the nineteenth century. EXCERPTS (G)reat flocks pour down the trails with that peculiar melting motion of moving quail, twittering, shoving, and shouldering. They splatter into the shallows, drink daintily, shake out small showers over their perfect coats, and melt away again into the scrub, preening and pranking, with soft contented noises. —WATER TRAILS OF THE CERISO He was a perfect gossip of the woods, this Pocket Hunter, and when I could get him away from "leads" and "strikes" and "contacts," full of fascinating small talk about the ebb and flood of creeks, the piñon crop on Black Mountain, and the wolves of Mesquite Valley. I suppose he never knew how much he depended for the necessary sense of home and companionship on the beasts and trees, meeting and finding them in their wonted places,—the bear that used to come down Pine Creek in the spring, pawing out trout from the shelters of sod banks, the juniper at Lone Tree Spring, and the quail at Paddy Jack's. —THE POCKET HUNTER Seyavi made baskets for love and sold them for money, in a generation that preferred iron pots for utility. Every Indian woman is an artist,—sees, feels, creates, but does not philosophize about her processes. —THE BASKET MAKER