Gold Rush Girl

“Gold rush fever brings 13-year-old Tori, her father, and her younger broth­er Jacob to 1849 San Fran­cis­co. The untamed town is a world away from their staid life in Prov­i­dence, but head­strong Tori embraces the move. Like her lit­er­ary hero­ine Jane Eyre, Tori longs for a life of adven­ture. After their father leaves for the gold fields, Tori and Jacob fend for them­selves in a city where the vul­ner­a­ble are often exploit­ed. Jacob’s sud­den dis­ap­pear­ance com­pels Tori to set aside her dreams of inde­pen­dence and find her broth­er. Avi once more proves him­self a mas­ter of his­tor­i­cal fic­tion, effec­tive­ly using Tori’s search to immerse read­ers in the city’s sights and sounds. Ful­ly real­ized sup­port­ing char­ac­ters reflect the mélange of cul­tures and dreams that brought peo­ple to Cal­i­for­nia in search of gold. Tori is more than the “spunky girl ahead of her time” trope; she’s a daugh­ter, a sis­ter, a friend, and an indi­vid­ual who is set on achiev­ing her dreams but not at the expense of oth­ers. Avi speaks through Tori to con­vey appre­ci­a­tion for libraries, lit­er­a­ture, and the true val­ue of read­ing: “It is not to learn about oth­ers. It is to learn about one­self.” VERDICT Tori dis­cov­ers adven­ture in the novel’s taut, sus­pense­ful nar­ra­tive, and self-deter­mi­na­tion in the final scene, which leaves read­ers’ spir­its as full as the sails on the lit­tle boat that car­ries her toward the future. A first pur­chase for all mid­dle grade libraries.” (School Library Jour­nal, Mary­beth Kozikows­ki, Sachem Pub­lic Library, Hol­brook, NY)