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Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Downstairs Girl, Stacey Lee's debut novel is a powerful story about love, friendship, and sacrifice, perfect for fans of Code Name Verity.
“This moving novel will captivate you.”—Buzzfeed.com
All Samantha wanted was to move back to New York and pursue her music, which was difficult enough being a Chinese girl in Missouri, 1849. Then her fate takes a turn for the worse after a tragic accident leaves her with nothing and she breaks the law in self-defense. With help from Annamae, a runaway slave she met at the scene of her crime, the two flee town for the unknown frontier.
But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls. Disguised as Sammy and Andy, two boys heading for the California gold rush, each search for a link to their past and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. Until they merge paths with a band of cowboys turned allies, and Samantha can’t stop herself from falling for one. But the law is closing in on them and new setbacks come each day, and the girls will quickly learn there are not many places one can hide on the open trail.
Winner of the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award
An ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick
An Amelia Bloomer Book
“This moving novel will captivate you.”—Buzzfeed.com
All Samantha wanted was to move back to New York and pursue her music, which was difficult enough being a Chinese girl in Missouri, 1849. Then her fate takes a turn for the worse after a tragic accident leaves her with nothing and she breaks the law in self-defense. With help from Annamae, a runaway slave she met at the scene of her crime, the two flee town for the unknown frontier.
But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls. Disguised as Sammy and Andy, two boys heading for the California gold rush, each search for a link to their past and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. Until they merge paths with a band of cowboys turned allies, and Samantha can’t stop herself from falling for one. But the law is closing in on them and new setbacks come each day, and the girls will quickly learn there are not many places one can hide on the open trail.
Winner of the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award
An ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick
An Amelia Bloomer Book
153 Reviews
3.5
samanthaphei
Created 3 months agoShare
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Abigail K.
Created 3 months agoShare
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“I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook; in fact, the narrator is so talented at performing various voices I may just have to listen to every book she's narrated. The story was fascinating, and though I rarely read westerns, this one reminded me of the American Girl books and the My America books from my childhood in the best of ways. The story was thrilling, the characters all complex and compelling, and the representation as diverse as the historic Wild West truly was.
My two issues are with the romance and the religion (spoilers from here on in).The main character, Sammy, who is disguised as a boy, falls in love with a cowboy named West. We're all familiar with the male-struggling-with-his-sexuality trope from movies like Mulan or shows like Coffee Prince, but my issue here the author conveniently assures us that West new Sammy was a girl all along.... I love this trope specifically because it highlights someone falling for another's soul above all else, so much so that they're willing to question everything about themselves. I mean just take Han Kyul's line in Coffee Prince, "I like you. I don't care if you're a man or an alien. I don't care anymore!" Now that is true love... When the cross-dressing trope is used but then it's revealed at the end that no one was really fooled, it feels disingenuous and lacking.
Secondly, Christianity played a major part in the plot. Now, I don't have an issue with descriptions of religions at all, especially considering the story is set in the Western US in the 1840s. What I didn't like was the way the characters felt like they were preaching their justifications for all the terrible stuff that happens in the plot in a way that felt like it was supposed to be teaching the audience a lesson. Oh, Andy's long-lost brother who escaped slavery and who knows what other horrible violence committed suicide in the final act? Why, that must be God's Plan, nothing we could do about it. There were plenty of weird examples like this. The author also brings in Chinese culture in the form of Zodiac signs and some superstitions, but they are always explained in such a manner that it's clear the author assumes her readers will not have prior context to understand them as easily as the Christian notions. As someone with a bit of religious trauma, but who has also read plenty of books with religious characters, this one felt especially didactic, in a way that I would feel wary of giving it to an impressionable child without explaining the historical context of such beliefs first.”
Jewnifer Grullon
Created 3 months agoShare
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“Really liked it. My fav part is how good friendships can be found if we just open our minds and heart.”
Emma Manolis
Created 5 months agoShare
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“This book was incredibly well written, especially for a Young Adult novel! I wasn't certain that I would enjoy a journey on the Oregon Trail, but I did. I loved seeing Samantha grow from a timid little girl into a strong, independent woman. I loved that we get the opportunity to see a different experience from the one we heard most about in school. It wasn't the homogeneous pioneer story that you see in many American textbooks. It was a fantastic adventure and to be honest I hope that someday there will be a followup to this story. I want to see what happens next!!”
sara
Created 7 months agoShare
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About Stacey Lee
Stacey Lee is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Downstairs Girl, Luck of the Titanic, Under a Painted Sky and Outrun the Moon, the winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. She is a fourth-generation Chinese American and a founding member of We Need Diverse Books. Born in Southern California, she graduated from UCLA and then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. She lives with her family outside San Francisco. You can visit Stacey at staceyhlee.com. Or follow her on Twitter @staceyleeauthor.
Other books by Stacey Lee
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