The Long Way Westward

America, at last! This classic early reader tells an exciting story and is also a good launching pad for classroom and home discussions. The Long Way Westward relates the experiences of two young brothers and their family, immigrants from Sweden, from their arrival in New York through the journey to their new home in Minnesota. This lively sequel to The Long Way to a New Land follows the fortunes of Carl Erik’s family from New York City to the farmlands of Minnesota. "Historically accurate; will attract competent primary-grade readers and will be equally suitable for less able readers in intermediate grades." (School Library Journal) As a fan of this book and its companion, The Long Way to a New Land, put it: "The books describe the difficulty and dangers of the journey in a way that is non-complaining and full of optimism for a new life in America. Teachers, these books are wonderful for integrating with other subjects and topics, such as immigration, westward expansion, steamships, trains, geography, and American life in the 1860s." Author-artist Joan Sandin's grandfather was born in Sweden and immigrated to Wisconsin with his parents in 1882, when he was only two. Joan herself spent time in Sweden and did extensive research to create her well-loved classic books about the immigrant experience.

"We will go to America!" It is 1868, and Carl Erik's family faces starvation in Sweden. As their hopes fade, they must endure a journey over land and sea to reach a better life in a new country thousands of miles away.

Long Journey Westward is an inspiring chronicle set in the late 1880s as an Irish emigrant family reluctantly leaves their poverty-stricken, but beloved, homeland for the sake of survival. The story centers on the adventures of the son, Robert, who sets out in the early 1900s to make a life for himself in the newly established area of Canada - Fraser Mills, British Columbia. There he obtains a position as cook with a sawmill company. He's tall and good-looking with a strong Christian upbringing, but definitely does not fit in with many of those in the workplace. They are burly, crude-speaking and heavy-drinking lumbermen that he must encounter daily while at work and living in the company's bunkhouse. He faces condemnation and confrontation for being a non-conformist to their lifestyle. Loneliness sets in, driving him to consider taking a mail-order bride for a wife. Through many challenges and adversities, Robert continues to uphold his Christian principles. Even so, at times he questions the choice he made in leaving home to work and survive in the environment in which he finds himself.

The province's premier journalist tells the story he was born to write. No journalist has travelled the back roads, hidden vales and fog-soaked coves of Nova Scotia as widely as John DeMont. No writer has spent as much time considering its peculiar warp and weft of humanity, geography and history. The Long Way Home is the summation of DeMont's years of travel, research and thought. It tells the story of what is, from the European view of things, the oldest part of Canada. Before Confederation it was also the richest, but now Nova Scotia is among the poorest. Its defining myths and stories are mostly about loss and sheer determination. Equal parts narrative, memoir and meditation, The Long Way Home chronicles with enthralling clarity a complex and multi-dimensional story: the overwhelming of the first peoples and the arrival of a mélange of pioneers who carved out pockets of the wilderness; the random acts and unexplained mysteries; the shameful achievements and noble failures; the rapture and misery; the twists of destiny and the cold-heartedness of fate. This is the biography of a place that has been hardened by history. A place full of reminders of how great a province it has been and how great—with the right circumstances and a little luck—it could be again.

Relates the experiences of two young brothers and their family, immigrants from Sweden, from their arrival in New York through the journey to their new home in Minnesota.

The book gives to the reader a glimpse into the life of a Jewish family in Czechoslovakia from the end of WW I, throughout the Nazi horrors of WW II, to the era of Communist dictatorship and finally to the freedom in the West. This non-fictional narrative is written in chronological order and ties in related political events that occurred during this time. The author's WW II survival is followed in detail, showing how the will to fight for life aided in the achievement of that vision. Full recognition is given to the good people who took risks, without which the author could not have survived the war. While liberation brought happiness and hope for a better life, there was also a cloud of sadness over the loss of his father, dear family members and friends that can never be eradicated from memory. Unfortunately, the freedom that came with the end of the war was short lived. The establishment of Communist dictatorship marred that gained freedom. Once again, the author's determination to live in a free society, guided him through an adventurous escape to the West, where he finally achieved his dream of freedom.

As the U.S. descends into the Civil War, photographer Brenton Baldwin travels west with his sister Jordana, taking pictures of the developing lands and in search of their sister. Along for the trip is young Caitlan O'Connor, who has just arrived from Ireland. Will they make it to California to find their family despite the danger that looms ahead? And can early romance grow into love in the face of trials and tragedy?