Jason's Gold

Jason's Gold

Will Hobbs

1999 * p. 216 * YA Historical Fiction

Fifteen-year-old Jason Hawthorn is self-reliant, ambitious and eager to prove himself to his older brothers. He has left his hometown in Seattle and is living in New York City as a newsie when the Klondike Gold Rush erupts. Gold! Everyone has dreams of striking it rich in the Klondike, even Jason.

"Klondike. Jason paused to savor the word. "Klondike," he said aloud. The name had a magical ring to it, a spellbinding power. The word itself was heavy and solid and dazzling, like a bar of shiny gold" (3).

He rushes home to claim his inheritence and set out for Alaska. But on returning home to Seattle he fnds that his older brothers have the Klondike fever and have already left, and with Jason's money!

Jason is discouraged. But he bucks up, and uses his cunning to sneak onto a ship to the Klondike. Jason's goal is to reach his brothers before some of the treacherous obstacles that lie on the path to the Klondike. But nothing proves easy, or what it seems, on the way to the Klondike, where the gold is "as thick as cheese in a sandwich."

Jason is a fictional character set against the historical event of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. Jason takes the historic trek through the Dead Horse Trail, Chilkoot Pass, and the Yukon River. He witnesses criminal activity and animal cruelty, saves a dog, meets the infamous Jack London, has a run in with a moose and suffers a great deal.

I loved, loved, loved this book! It was suspenseful and eye-opening to read about a historical event that I knew so little about. Jason is a true hero. He is moral, kind, forgiving, and strong. King, Jason's husky, is the ultimate man's best friend.

It was wonderful.

-Reading level: age 13 & up

-No swearing that I can recall

-A few disturbing/graphic scenes of animal cruelty and an amputation

-Themes of self-reliance, animal respect, greed, perseverance, kindness, and determination.

-An adventure book that will appeal especialy to boys, but also for girls