Last Sunday I gave a presentation at the Kelly-Griggs House Museum in Red Bluff about Alvin Coffey, the Gold Rush, and slavery in California. One of the attendees asked if I could recommend books for children about the California Gold Rush. (Other than my own.)

Well, it’s been 10 years since I retired from a job as a children’s librarian, but I will do my best.

Fiction:

By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman has been the go-to fiction title ever since it was published in 1963. For fun and adventure and historical highlights it can’t be beat. Another by Fleischman is Bandit’s Moon, which features the outlaw Joaquin Murrieta.

Other fiction titles to look for are:

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, by Karen Cushman

Chang’s Paper Pony by Eleanor Coerr,

Letters from the Corrugated Castle: A Novel of Gold Rush California, 1850-1852  by Joan W. Blos

Gold Rush Girl by Avi.

The California Gold Rush: An Interactive History Adventure, by  Elizabeth Raum. Fiction or non-fiction? This is a fact-based informative book in a fictional “choose your adventure” format.

Picture Books: These are easier, illustrated books for grades K-3.

Nine for California, Boomtown, and Taking Charge by Sonia Levitin — three picture books about a lively family coming to the goldfields. Plenty of everyday Old West detail.

Gold Fever, by Verla Kay — Rhyming text and lively illustrations bring the gold rush to life.

Red Flower Goes West  by Ann Warren Turner — The overland journey of a family and the flower Mama will not leave behind.

Non-Fiction History books:

These are all good books– attractive and accurate.

The Great American Gold Rush by Rhoda Blumberg

Gold! Gold from the American River by Don Brown

Gold Fever! Tales from the California Gold Rush  by Rosalyn Schanzer

Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California by Jerry Stanley

Biographies: There is not much to choose from among biographies of early Californians. I found three about Levi Strauss and three about John Sutter:

Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea: A Fairly Fabricated Story of a Pair of Pants by Tony Johnston. Factual but full of humor in a picture book format.

Who Was Levi Strauss? by Ellen Labrecque. The only historic Californian in Penguin’s extensive “Who Was?” series of juvenile biographies.

Mr. Blue Jeans : a story about Levi Strauss by Maryann N. Weidt

Meet John Sutter: California Gold Rush Pioneer (Introducing Famous Americans series)

John Sutter and the California Gold Rush by Matt Doeden (Graphic History series)

John Sutter: Sutter’s Fort and the California Gold Rush (The Library of American Lives and Times series)

All three of these Sutter titles are from publishers who cater to the school library market, like Children’s Press, Enslow, Abdo, Lerner, and Scholastic. They fit into series that focus on famous Americans. These publishers also often also have non-fiction titles about the California Gold Rush: decent introductions but pretty basic.

Check your school or public library — it should have many of these books, and you can also request that a library get a book for you. Librarians love to help!