To the Discussion Leader
"It's almost two weeks now, and today is the first day I opened this book. It was Mama's journal. I been carrying it since Mr. Fenster gave it to me. Only thing he found in the river, he said, besides me. It's all dried out now, but there's a big watermark like a long peninsula coming out from the binding. Fat at the beginning and skinnier toward the edge of the page. They never found Mama, Pa, and Sally." So begins The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emigrant on the Oregon Trail, Overland, 1845. Praised for her meticulous research and penchant for accuracy, author Ellen Levine allows young readers to experience the joys and sorrows, dreams and bitter realities, struggles and triumphs of orphan Jedediah Barstow during his journey west on the Oregon Trail.
The pioneers who make up Jedediah's wagon train run the gamut from folks who demonstrate selfless concern for others to selfish individuals consumed only with themselves. As he watches these people around him, Jedediah learns what it means to be honest and kind. Jedediah becomes self-reliant. He confronts his own fears and develops into a hardworking man who would have brought great pride to his parents.
Ellen Levine says that as a young person her favorite books were about pioneers and covered wagons. She always thought the adventure of traveling through unsettled territory and making everything you needed for the journey must have been a fascinating experience. Through The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emigrant on the Oregon Trail, a new generation of readers will share Levine's enjoyment and fascination with pioneers and covered wagons.
Summary
"Damn Pa! If we hadn't come, we'd still be a family! Maybe I'll be struck down for the blasphemy. But the stars are still up there and the moon is moving regular. I can hear Mama's voice saying what she said to me and Sally every night: 'Don't go to bed with regrets and you won't have them when you get up.'" writes thirteen-year-old Jedediah Barstow in his journal. Jed does have regrets. His mother, father, and younger sister Sally are now dead, swept out of their covered wagon and drowned while crossing the Kaw River. It is May of 1847, and Jed and his family are part of a wagon train traveling on the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to the Willamette Valley in the Territory of Oregon. When the tragedy occurs, Jed has to decide whether to continue on the journey or be a "turnaround" and head back home. He decides to stay and is taken in by the Henshaw family. Even though Mr. Henshaw is mean, drinks too much, and treats Jed roughly, Mrs. Henshaw is kind, and their seven-year-old daughter Bekky looks up to Jed and reminds him of his sister Sally.
Jed helps out with the many chores, encounters sandstorms, witnesses a buffalo stampede, and narrowly escapes a grizzly bear attack. He becomes friends with other young people on the journey: Charlie Smothers, Jack Simpson, and Lucy Sedlow. He sees young Amos Littleton bitten by a rattlesnake, and days later, watches the amputation of boy's infected leg. The harrowing journey takes almost five months, and during that time there's a wedding on the trail, a baby is born, and Mr. Henshaw is killed when his gun accidentally discharges. After Mr. Henshaw's death, Jed, now, "the male of the Henshaw wagon," is invited to become a speaking and voting member of the wagon train council despite his young age.
Even though Jed seems comfortable with life on the trail, every time the wagons must cross a river, the memories return, and he doesn't want to go into deep water. "Don't like crossing over anything above my knees-I'm not afraid. I just don't like it-. Keep seeing Mama and Sally hanging on to the ropes," Jed writes. "But I don't like not wanting to cross." The true test of his courage comes when the travelers have to pass through the Dalles of the Columbia River, a perilous section full of whirlpools. The rough current causes their raft to rock violently, throwing Bekky, Lucy, and baby Seth into the swirling water. Jed dives in and miraculously manages to save all three.
When the group arrives at their destination, Oregon City, Jed plans to stay with Mrs. Henshaw. He writes, "I'm going to get where Pa and Mama wanted to be. I just wish I could tell them that, and that I know why they wanted to come out here to Oregon. And that I'm glad they wanted to make the trip."
Thinking About the Book
1. Where and how does Jedediah get the journal he writes in?
2. One of the most interesting characters in Jedediah's journal is Jacob Fenster. Why does Jedediah leave Mr. Fenster's wagon? What lessons does Jedediah learn from Mr. Fenster?
3. What are some of the reasons Jedediah is angry with his Pa?
4. Early in his journal Jed writes about the journey being so "risky, it's like meeting an angry elephant. You either face it down or you turn back." What personal "elephant" does Jed have to face? How does he deal with it?
5. Who is the most unlikable character in Jedediah's journal? How does the author make this person so unlikable?
6. Traveling on the Oregon Trail was full of hardships and hard work. What did the boys and girls do for fun?
7. Jedediah's father once punished his son by beating him then promised he'd never do it again. Why?
8. How did Jed feel when Mr. Henshaw died? Why did he not participate in the funeral at first? Who or what changed his mind?
9. Near the end of Jedediah's journal Lucy asks him, "Do you think you have to be really afraid before you can be really brave?" How would you answer Lucy's question?
Student Activities
1. Jed writes of seeing several interesting land formations on the Oregon Trail: Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, and Independence Rock. Go to http://www.historyglobe.com/ot/otmap1.htm to see a map of the route the settlers took, and then click on "Trail Tour" for a look at some of these landmarks. Why were these places so named?
2. In his May 27th journal entry, Jedediah retells a tall tale describing what Oregon will be like when the pioneers arrive. What is a tall tale? How did these stories come to develop in the United States?
3. Read Samuel Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Why does Mr. Fenster say this poem reminds him of their journey west?
4. The emigrants copied the Indians' practice of preserving their meat by using the process of jerking. Try making jerky. Use the following web site. http://www.recipesource.com/text./munchies/snacks/jerky/recipe65.txt
5. The Library of Congress has included transcripts of Overland Trail lore and early life in Oregon on its Internet web site. Using this primary source material, write several journal entries about life in a wagon train or the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest. The address for Oregon history is below. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/oro.html
6. Travelers on the Oregon Trail were always having to leave their possessions along the way. Pretend that you were going to make the trip with Jed but you could take any of the things you now own. What three items would you absolutely take with you all the way to Oregon?
7. During the journey, Jed "ponders on" several possible careers: veterinarian, master craftsman, surveyor, but not a doctor. What makes him consider these jobs? Read the Epilogue to find out what Jed finally becomes. What career goals do you have? How have your ambitions changed as you've grown older?
8. Jedediah's journal tells of a young man's adventure on the Oregon Trail. The Dear America book by Kristiana Gregory, Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, relates the journey from a young woman's point of view. Compare and contrast Jedediah's story with Hattie's. What different things did you learn about the Oregon Trail trek from each book? Which book did you enjoy more? Why?
An Interview with Ellen Levine
Richard F. Abrahamson, Ph.D. & Eleanore S. Tyson, Ed.D.: For the most part, the books you have written for young people have been nonfiction. How did writing Jedediah's journal differ from creating your other books? Did you enjoy working in the journal format?
Ellen Levine: I loved writing Jedediah's journal. My first children's book is a nonfiction work called, If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon. It is, as its title suggests, about travel on the Oregon Trail. Sixteen years later I wrote Jedediah's story, and I sometimes wonder if it was brewing in me for all that time. In a nonfiction book I work with the facts as I've learned them through research. The fun part is to figure out how to tell a story that a reader (and I myself) will be interested in.
With a novel, like Jedediah's journal, I am also in search of a story someone will want to read. And I also do a tremendous amount of research to learn, as in this case, about life on the Trail. The difference is that in a novel, when I explore what people do, why they act the way they do, and how they feel about it, I have created the world of people and their lives, and I am telling their stories as I discover them, not the stories of real people I've read about. The secret is, that in order for my made-up people to seem real, they have to become real to me.
RFA & EST: You have often mentioned the excitement you feel when you are engaged in the research process and your quest for accuracy as you start a new project. As you did the research for Jedediah's story, what did you learn that surprised you most? Since you have written another book on the Oregon Trail, was the research for this novel as interesting?
EL: The research for the novel was in many ways exactly like the research for the nonfiction book about the Oregon Trail. I read what historians had written about that period of time, and I read the diaries of people who traveled on the trail. What fascinated me both times was the sense of adventure in these pioneers, their excitement at the possibility that tomorrow could bring a new and better life. And so they were willing to leave home, say goodbye to friends and family they most likely would never see again, and set out for an unknown place.
Today we have very few unknown geographical places left for us to explore. Today one way we can have an adventure is by reading and thinking and talking with friends about things we've never thought about before. You might call it a "frontier of the mind," if only we're not afraid to explore.
RFA & EST: Other than Jedediah Barstow, who is your favorite character in his journal?
EL: When you write a novel, in some way there's a small piece of you in every character -- the good, the bad, the funny, the sad. And so you are connected to all of them, even those you don't particularly like. Other than Jedediah, I have a warm spot in my heart for Mr. Grouch and Missus Cavendish. And so I wasn't completely surprised as I was writing to discover that they became friends, indeed good friends, as I mentioned in the Epilogue.
RFA & EST: The word "hero" has been used countless times since the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th. Where the pioneers who made the trek to Oregon heroes? What is your definition of a hero?
EL: A hero is a person of courage, who risks danger to help others. The firefighters and police officers who risked their lives (and too many lost them) in the September 11th attacks, were certainly heroes. But equally heroic were all those people trapped in the burning buildings, or running through the streets, who turned to help someone next to them as they struggled together. The smallest acts can be heroic. A Danish person during World War II who warned Jews that the Nazis were planning to arrest them was a hero. The simple act of passing on the information was heroic, for punishment if caught was severe.
We find heroes not just in well-known places like the World Trade Center. We find them in school yards, when a one kid befriends another who's been picked on by the class bully. When everyone either joins in or is silent as something hurtful is happening, the one who stands up and loudly or quietly says, "No. That's wrong," is in my book a hero.
I don't think the pioneers who traveled west were necessarily heroes. They were brave, adventurous, faced dangers and overcame them. When an ordinary person (as we all are) does extraordinary things for someone else, that makes a hero. I am certain there were moments of heroism on the Trail, times when someone reached out to someone else despite great risks. But the experience of traveling in a covered wagon to a new place by itself does not make someone a hero.
RFA & EST: You have said that writing is sometimes a lonely occupation. Was the experience of writing The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emigrant on the Oregon Trail a lonely one?
EL: Writing is at times lonely work, for you do it by yourself. You can't talk with your friends or go to a movie or play a game or read a book AND write at the same time. Writing is just you and a blank page. But, and this is a big but, it's also not lonely. And that's because you become so involved with your characters, you actually feel you're having conversations with them. Just remember to keep the door closed, because sometimes you forget and talk out loud. And someone walking by might begin to wonder about you....
RFA & EST: Who are the authors who have had the biggest impact on your own writing?
EL: It's very difficult for me to say who are the authors who've most influenced my writing. Often powerful impressions from books are so deep and fully absorbed, when you start to write, you don't even know where things in you come from. It's equally hard to say who are my favorite authors. If I were stuck on a desert island and could only read one author, I think it would be Jane Austen, who wrote nearly 200 years ago about families in small English villages. You might ask how something written that long ago and about a world so far from mine could be of interest to me. That's what makes a great book: the people are so richly drawn that their sorrows and laughter can become mine across the centuries. As for children's books, I love too many of them to choose. I'll only say that as a writer as well as a reader, looking carefully at a book, I love Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson, and David Small's Imogene's Antlers.
RFA & EST: If you could ask young readers of Jedediah's journal one question when they finished the book, what would that question be? What do you hope young readers will take with them after reading The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emigrant on the Oregon Trail?
EL: I have learned in the years I've been writing that readers very often see things in my books that I've never thought of. And so I'd ask what they think of Jedediah, and what kinds of decisions they might have made if they were in his situation.
In a larger sense the questions I'd ask are actually part of what I hope readers will take away from the book. In getting to know Jedediah, I hope a reader can see what I see in him and his situation: that no matter how awful a loss you suffer, no matter how impossible something may seem, if you let yourself see more than the dark shadows (the ones Jedediah saw as he walked around in deep sadness with his head down), you'll find there are ways out of the blackness. With all his troubles -- the terrible loss of his family and his difficult new situation with Mr. Henshaw--Jed was able to experience not only sorrow, but also joy. He was able to play as well as grieve. Jedediah was a learner, and sometimes the lessons weren't easy--for example, Mr. Littleton catching him in his bigotry. Sometimes the lessons were hard but fun -- woodcarving. In letting himself be open, Jed grew into a person I both enjoy and admire. I hope readers will see that.
Discussion Guide written by Richard F. Abrahamson, Ph.D., Professor of Literature for Children and Young Adults, University of Houston, Houston, Texas and Eleanore S. Tyson, Ed.D., Clinical Associate Professor, University of Houston, Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Houston, Texas.
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