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

North of Danger

North of Danger

Dale Fife

1978 * p. 72 * YA Historical Fiction

North of Danger takes place in WWII Spitsbergen, a sovereign of Norway. It is a fictionalized story based on a true event.

The people living on Spitsbergen, which is situated four hundred miles from the North Pole, fled there after the Germans started to invade Norway.

This story is about Arne Kristiansen, a 12 year old boy living in Spitsbergen. Arnes' father, an activist against the Germans, has fled to the North Pole posed as a glacialist to escape capture.

When Spitsbergen is suddenly told to evacuate because the Germans were coming, Arne refuses to leave. His father is supposed to return in 3 weeks, and will be captured if no one warns him to avoid Spitsbergen. Arne hides in the mines. Soon the whole town is evacuated and Arne is left on his own in the ghost town. He waits above the town for a week, keeping an eye out for German ships and his father. Unfortunately, the Germans arrive. So Arne must make the treacherous trek to reach his father in the dead of winter.

The story is packed with a lot of historical information and is often a little confusing with some of the Norwegian vocabulary. The characters seem a little flat and everything gets resolved a little too nicely and quickly. But the overall story is well written and a typical adventure story about a boy on his own, battling the elements...and Germans.

-Reading level: age 14 & up

-Appropriate for all ages

-A short, fast read

-A few challenging Norwegian words

-The book has no cover jacket, and may be a harder book to locate