LYNETTE, Rachel . The Louisiana Purchase . ISBN 978-1-4777-0781-4 ; ISBN 978-1-4777-1034-0 . LC 2012044925. LYNETTE, Rachel . Meriwether Lewis and William Clark . ISBN 978-1-4777-0783-8 ; ISBN 978-1-4777-1036-4 . LC 2012048036. LYNETTE, Rachel . The Oregon Trail . ISBN 978-1-4777-0786-9 ; ISBN 978-1-4777-1039-5 . LC 2013000190. LYNETTE, Rachel . Sacagawea . ISBN 978-1-4777-0782-1 ; ISBN 978-1-4777-1035-7 . LC 2012046883. LYNETTE, Rachel . The Transcontinental Railroad . ISBN 978-1-4777-0785-2 ; ISBN 978-1-4777-1038-8 . LC 2012050205. ea vol: 24p. (Pioneer Spirit: The Westward Expansion Series). glossary. index. map. photos. reprods. websites. Rosen / PowerKids Pr . 2013. lib. ed. $22.60; ebk. $22.60. Gr 2-4 Concise, well-organized content makes these slim volumes a lot more informative than a cursory glance suggests. Short chapters (one to two pages each) chronicle the causes, effects, events, and people that figured in the westward expansion. The writing is concise but packed with facts. For example, Gold Rush explains that, "Passengers traveled on dirty, crowded ships for six months or longer. Food often spoiled and water was not always safe to drink." The illustrations are a mix of photos and gorgeous reproductions of archival paintings and drawings, all of which complement the texts to a tee. The colorful, bordered captions add helpful information.

The California gold rush is an often-romanticized period, but as this entry in the Graphic History of the American West shows, it was anything but glamorous for most of the get-rich-quick hopefuls. This account follows a 27-year-old New Yorker, William Swain, who leaves his family farm, promising to return once he made his fortune. After an arduous journey across unforgiving country, he arrives in the California Territory to find the crowded diggings nearly claimed out. After months of backbreaking labor, hazardous living conditions, and only meager findings, he gives up the ghost and heads back home, only 500 bucks the richer. Readers may be disappointed by Swain's failed enterprise (and not entired convinced that he had "a grand adventure"), but the graphic format will help children get a sense of the era and the realities of gold prospecting. With no more than one or two panels per page and a low word count, there's little to trip up struggling readers in this capable supplementary history resource.