Lots of historical detail about San Francisco in 1849 dot this girl adventure. Fourteen-year old Tory and her brother Jacob are left by their alone in a tent home while he goes and joins the gold miners. Tory tries to keep them safe and fed by dressing as a boy and working several jobs. She makes friends with two boys who help her when Jacob disappears and they fear he's been crimped. The only distraction on this couldn't put down novel were the many words in italics at the beginning. I hope this becomes a series.

Gold Rush Girl is Avi at the top of his game. The characters are strong and fully rounded, the setting is authentic and overall the book is well paced.

Let me self disclose that I love historical fiction, spunky girl characters and stories where characters overcome adversity. This book has it all. It reminds me slightly of Avi’s True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and I think that middle grade kids will love it. I have teachers that teach the gold rush and I intend to recommend this to them---there is a lot to learn about the gold

A novel set during the Californian Gold Rush of 1848-1855 by award-winning author of historical fiction, Avi, this book is a page-turner. We are initially introduced to Victoria Blaisdel (Tory), struggling with the blandness of life for a girl on Rhode Island in the mid 1800s. However, her fate quickly turns when her father loses his job and he resolves, along with countless other men, to head to San Francisco, naively certain that he will find gold and mend their fortunes. Tory, stubborn and determined, refuses to accept his decision to leave her behind with her mother, and instead stows away on the ship carrying them to San Francisco.

On arrival, all is far from what they had hoped, and Tory is left to fend for herself and her brother in a mud-filled, iniquitous shanty town in which she is a lamb and the hundreds of failed miners around her are, as their kindly neighbour says, ‘the wolves’. To make matters worse, criminals in the town are kidnapping youngsters and before long Tory’s brother finds himself in danger. Tory is wrenched from her solitary life of independence and forced to confront the truth that if she doesn’t help him, no-one else will.

Avi writes in the first person, and in a style intended to emulate speech in the 1800s – which some readers will like and others struggle with. But the novel is as eye-opening to the reader as its developments are to Tory herself, and as we see San Francisco from her point of view, we journey along with her in the revelation of what the town was really like at this point in its history. The story encompasses themes of gender inequality as well as racism, and so is a thought-provoking read for middle-grade readers, as well being a compelling account of the power of faithful friendships, and the importance of family.

Overall, as the first of Avi’s books I have read, it’s definitely left me feeling that I could learn a lot by reading more of his many historical novels, and as a gateway for children to immersion through fiction in different points in our past, they are hard to beat!

Avi is one of my all time favorite authors. He has won dozens of awards. He’s a master at spinning harrowing tales. His writing draws you in like no other author. His word choices enable the reader to picture the entire story in their head, movie-like. If his sentences could be eaten, they’d be a fuzzy peach, fresh picked, juices running down your chin.

This particular book is about Tory, a head strong, independent girl, whose father hears about the California gold rush. He intends to go in search of his fortune. Tory and her mother are to stay behind until her father has become established in California. Though Tory wants to go along for the adventure, her younger brother Jacob goes instead. Tory cooks up a plan to stow away on the ship. In doing so, she discovers adventure, but it turns out to be a much different adventure than she imagined. She faces sinister criminals and life threatening danger, while simultaneously finding trustworthy friends, a generous neighbor who becomes family, and her own courage.

The plot is too thrilling to give away any more detail than that. See for yourself why Avi is one of the best fiction authors out there.

I received an ARC copy from net galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a great book to introduce children to the gold rush. I love how it breaks through gender stereotypes while being true to the historical period. This is a thrilling tale of adventure that even a reluctant reader cannot resist.

Gold Rush Girl
by Avi

Candlewick Press
Candlewick

Candlewick Press
Children's Fiction
Pub Date 10 Mar 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Gold Rush Girl through Candlewick Press and Netgalley:


It’s 1848 and though Victoria (Tory) Blaisdell Kong’s for independence and adventure. She longs to journey with her Father as he sails in search of real gold. But it’s 1848 and Tory isn’t even allowed to go to school let alone travel all the way from Rhode Island to California. But Tory is determined to have a say in her destiny so decides to stow away on the ship.






San Francisco is frenzied and full of wild men, but Tory still manages to find both freedom and friendship there. But one day her Father is in the gold fields and her younger brother Jacob, is kidnapped. And so Tory is spurred on a treacherous search for him in Rotten Row, a part of San Francisco Bay crowded with hundreds of abandoned ships.




Avi, takes us back to an extraordinary time of hope and risk, with heroines that come to life on the page.



I give Gold Rush Girl five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of Avi's True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. It has a great opening line: "Have you ever been struck by lightning? I have."

At first, I thought the style was a little old-fashioned, but then I realized this was done on purpose. All the literary references warmed my heart! From Mr. Poe to Mr. Benjamin Franklin! The "fine new publications such as Oliver Twist, Wuthering Heights, and Vanity Fair..." Not sure how young kids will read this, but I liked it.

The middle did sag a tiny bit for me... once they reach San Francisco. Of course, it does pick up when the plot that revolves around the kidnapping of Jacob. At times, I will admit that I didn't much like Jacob (the brother). And the father also seemed preoccupied with himself. But, then, I also felt that same way about Tory! Maybe it runs in the family?

I loved the character of Senor Rosales! I love how he believes Tory about her missing brother. And even makes them his priority.

With a title like Gold Rush Girl, I expected a little more gold in the story. All the hunting for gold is done off-page. Instead, this book has a lot of ships...

An interesting historical setting is always a bonus for me! I particularly enjoyed the author's note at the end about Rotten Row...

**Note: I received a free copy of this title from the people at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Gold Fever has reached Victoria and her family on the East coast. Father and Jacob were to go first and mother and Victoria would follow. But she could not stomach the thought of staying behind with a controlling aunt wanting her to be more "ladylike."

Victoria begins to plot a way to sneak aboard the ship and stay hidden until out to sea. But she soon realizes it would be cruel to leave without telling her mother so tells her all about the plan. Gratefully, her mother sees the wisdom of going along to be a help in caring for her younger brother and a support to her father in keeping house. So begins a host of new experiences in the pursuit of gold.

After a long and gruelling voyage, they arrive at the coast of California but have to wait until weather conditions permit a safe landing. Once on land again, California turns out to be a far cry from the luxury Victoria once took for granted. She soon discovers that she won't be accompanying her father but instead left solely in charge of her brother. No easy task to try to keep him out of trouble and scrounge up work to help pay for food and other necessities while her father is away.

As the days turn into weeks and then months, Victoria and Jacob face challenges they never expected and dangers that threatened their very existence. Avi keeps readers in suspense wondering if they will ever be reunited as a family again.

I highly recommend this exciting story that offers an interesting and realistic picture of the time period and the sacrifices families made to try to better their lives. Victoria and readers alike will learn that some things are more important than gold.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of Gold Rush Girl from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received and the opinions expressed are my own.

I want to thank Netgalley and Candlewick Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is a terrific addition to the historical fiction genre. Avi never disappoints as he gives the protagonist, Victoria (Tory), a strong voice and puts the reader right in her shoes. It opens in 1848 in Providence, Rhode Island. Tory and her family are controlled by her domineering aunt. Between Tory's desire for her independence and her father's gold fever- she becomes a stowaway on her father's and brother's ship headed to find California gold. After landing in San Francisco several months later, they find themselves in a city that is shocking. With only being able to afford a tent, Tory and her brother are left on their own while their dad heads to the diggings. San Francisco is not a hospitable place for anyone, especially a 10 year old boy and 14 year old girl. In fact, there are hardly any women in the city. Tory dressed as a young man, scraps enough work and wages together to feed herself and brother. Tragedy happens and Tory desperately seeks to save her brother. The majority of the book depicts daily living and the debauchery of Gold Rush San Francisco. I think readers will be shocked to discover that none of the book takes place in the mines or the people panning for gold. I don't know if there will be a sequel- the story arc of this book comes to a solid ending, with some of the characters embarking on another adventure. I would give the book a 4 star rating. The strength is in the tone, characters, and description of the setting. I think the probability that Tory was not sexually assaulted in this environment is very unrealistic. The roles she took on in this environment were also unrealistic. Despite that, what students will learn about San Francisco during this time period is worth a very high recommendation. Update- I was talking with our school media specialist and we both agree that the publisher should consider for creating better book jackets - more eye catching and appealing to the intended audience.

Avi is one of my favorite adventure writers for kids. When I saw he had a new book out, I was excited to read it.

Gold Rush Girl does not disappoint. Avi is a master of drawing his readers into the atmosphere of a historical time period. Tory, a young girl living in Rhode Island in 1848, feels trapped in the social expectations of young girls at that time. Encouraged by the word of President Polk, Tory's father decides to head west to earn a fortune in gold for his family.

Avi's writing gives readers a front row seat to the common trouble of discovering that reality is often nothing like what expectation. Tory's adventure will keep you on the edge of your seat as you journey with her.

My favorite quote from this book comes from Tory, an avid reader, who wisely states: "But then people do not generally grasp the true value of reading: It is not to learn about others. It is to learn about oneself."

I received this book from Netgalley for my review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Here's the thing. I have six--yes, really six--feisty daughters. So I love feisty, spunky heroines, really I do. (I wrote a whole blog post about them, in fact, three daughters ago.) I love surrounding my daughters with stories of young women facing with courage and resilience the obstacles life puts in their path. Sometimes, though, the spunk can be taken too far.

It is possible for a writer to create a heroine so spunky that she crosses over that invisible line into "I just can't buy this" territory. And for the first 2/3 of Avi's newly-released Gold Rush Girl, his main character is just that kind of spunky. Annoyingly, unbelievably spunky. Fourteen-year-old Victoria "Tory" Blaisdell, despite being brought up by a submissive mother and domineering aunt, has no qualms about standing up for herself and taking life by the horns. Tory talks back to her aunt and parents, gets a job without their permission, sneaks out to further her education, and finally stows away on a ship to San Francisco so she can join her father and brother in their quest for fortune during the San Francisco Gold Rush of '49. And somehow, even though her father keeps pushing her back into "care for the house and your brother" duties, she gets away with it all. She never gets punished, or even reprimanded harshly, so she just goes on defying parental orders and good advice and doing whatever she wants. Perhaps there were some girls like this in the mid-nineteenth century, but I just couldn't buy it.

Because the plot and setting were completely fascinating (apparently Gold Rush-era San Francisco was crazy), I kept reading despite finding Tory very hard to relate to in the first half of the book. And while I don't think writing a female character is by any means outside of the scope of a male writer, it bothered me that a male author seemed so bent on making his female character strong and male characters weak. It almost felt manipulative, as though he were trying to buy the hearts of female readers by saying, "We all know girls are much stronger and smarter and wiser than boys," like Peter Pan cajoling Wendy to come to Neverland with him.

But then... the story shifted. A little past the midpoint, Tory's extreme spunkiness gets her in huge trouble. And she knows it. She owns up to the chaos she's caused, the way her feistiness actually risked the lives of others. She's haunted by her faults, realizing that her weaknesses had been masquerading as strength.

While the conclusion of the book brought a resurgence of spunk that I could have done without, I still found that the overall character change justified the less-than-identifiable character at the beginning. And I found myself impressed with Avi's writing skill; it takes a really good writer to keep me reading despite disliking the main character, and an excellent writer to bring about this kind of change in a believable manner.

So if you love reading about feisty girls, reading Gold Rush Girl is an obvious choice. But even if you don't, give it a try for the setting and plot--perhaps you'll find this particular feisty girl is more likable than you'd have thought.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this e-ARC to review!

Determined to let her will decide her destiny, Victoria Blaisdell sets out for the San Francisco gold fields with her family in 1849. Though they are grossly unprepared for what they find there, Tory manages to thrive on the hard work and desperate living conditions. How will she fare, though, when the most precious thing in her care disappears? Forced into the darkest parts of the new city, Tory must rely on her instincts and ingenuity to recover what was lost.

Gold Rush Girl is Avi at his finest. Strongly reminiscent of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990), the new novel explores parts of history that aren't widely known. For example, San Francisco's Rotten Row: hundreds of ships that were abandoned on arrival, left for anyone to take, and eventually sunk in the bay to create what is now the Embarcadero. The inclusion of a map at the end of the book that shows the locations where the remains of the ships have been found when modern building projects were undertaken drives this point home even harder. Fascinating history, compelling characters, and a mystery to solve; what could be better?

I feel bad about dnf'ing this book, but I set it down for about a week and haven't had any iota of interest of picking it back up again. If it was still the only thing I was reading, I might have ended up finishing it after a while, but for right now it's just not my jam. The 3 star rating is based of of the 25% of the book I did read.

That being said, it's still a great historical fiction book, but I felt like it got too bogged down with the historical rather than the fiction. I never got a good connection and feel for any of the characters and the plot wasn't engaging--it felt like it was just moving along rather than having some dynamic ups and downs. There was a lack of dialogue and action in general as well, so it just felt like I was reading something that was originally a sort of essay on San Francisco in the gold rush era, that then had a story built around it.

Adventurous Victoria Blaisdell sees her chance for a new life when her father decides to sail to California in search of gold. Disguised as a boy, Tori boards the boat and hides until they are well on their way. Upon arriving in California, she realizes that she may have left Rhode Island, but her father's idea of who she is still remains. As he leaves for the gold fields, Tori is left to mind her brother and keep house, once again. Determined to have her own adventure, Victoria finds a job and quickly makes herself at home in San Francisco. But one night her younger brother doesn't return. Rumors of kidnappers quickly follow. Tori and her friends are left with no choice, but to find him on their own. Will Victoria rise to the occasion as a heroine?

Set during the Gold Rush of 1894, Gold Rush Girl is filled with details and adventure that quickly draw the reader in. There is so much to like about this book. Tori is a strong female character. She embraces the unknown and refuses to be underestimated. She's a good friend and empathetic toward others. Further more, she becomes aware of her own shortcomings. Not in a way that belittles her strong character, but rather supplies depth to who she is and shows the even with shortcomings, the reader doesn't need to back down. But rather grow. All this wrapped into one and set during one of the most exciting times in history? Yep, Gold Rush Girl definitely deserves a read... and a second... and a third.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

RATING: 3 STARS
2020; Candlewick Press

Please note that my eARC was not formatted correctly so I did feel a bit frustrated as I read the book. "TH" were omitted so I had to take a guess on words, which would not be so bad if one of the characters wasn't named Thad, lol.

Tory Blaisdell's maternal aunt has very strong opinions on what men and women should be doing. Young girls do not need schooling and should take care of her family and younger brother. Young boys should get an education. When Tory's father loses his job, her aunt turns her back to them. Her father decides to sail west (San Francisco) for gold. Tory decides to stowaway with her father and brother. The camps are rough places, so Tory tries to dress like a boy. One day while her father is out in the gold fields, her brother goes missing. Tory is on her own to rescue her brother.

This was a cute story. I was hooked in the beginning but then the middle sort of lagged. Finally when it became more interesting, it felt like it just ended. If this becomes a series, I can see why it ended that way. Fingers crossed.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

The book Gold Rush Girl tells the story of Tory, a young woman in the 1800s seeking adventure. This opportunity comes during the Gold Rush of 1849, when she leaves Rhode Island with her father and brother to move to San Francisco. She quickly adopts to having more independence, but she struggles with the responsibility of caring for her brother. This ultimately leads to her main adventure in the book with two friends. I thought that this was an interesting story of the Gold Rush, and I would recommend it for students in late elementary or in middle school.

The gold rush as I have never read before, through the teens perspective, Tory Blaisdell. She sneaks on the same voyage to San Fransisco as her father and brother with the hope to find their fortune and Tory to especially find her independence. What she finds is that independence usually does not come with out much heartache. A story that tells the harsh realities of the gold rush and the effects it had on individuals.

This is an excellent story. The characters are charming and the storyline is fun and exciting. This is a great read for anyone looking for a grand. adventure.

Gold Rush Girl was an exciting story about a girl who stowed away on a ship with her father and brother who were heading to the gold fields in California to make their fortunes. I've read a few other books on that time period and I think that overall, this was one of the better ones. I liked Tory as a character, I loved seeing her determination and sheer perseverance both in making her own way and in finding her missing brother..

My biggest issue, I think, was that there was almost too much description. I sometimes found myself skimming pages at a time because it was devoted to describing, in great detail, the ship they were searching, or a room, or something else that I found unnecessary to the story. I can see that being a turn off to a child who might just be getting into reading. I did find the writing to be beautiful, though, as is usually the case with Avi. I think this would make a wonderful read aloud. The language has a great flow and is delightful to read out loud.

In Gold Rush Girl, Avi does what he does best which is to give us a plucky independent hero who rises above her situation and summons courage to save the day.
Fourteen year old Tori is bored with life in Providence, Rhode Island and bored with the role society and her overbearing aunt seem to be imposing on her. She longs to be independent and in control of herself. When her father loses his job and sets sail to seek his fortune in the California gold rush, she sees her opportunity to finally be free of her hum drum life. What she finds instead is that independence isn't always what you expect it to be and that there is nothing more important that having good friends.
I thought this was a brilliant bit of storytelling. I loved how Avi was able to stay true to the speech of the time period but still captivate a modern audience with the drama of Tori's adventure. She is an imperfect hero; always making rash in-the-moment decisions that jeopardize her plans, but that only adds to her humanity. The comparisons to Charlotte Doyle are many and I think kids will love Tori just as much as they have loved Charlotte over the years.
I can't wait to add this story to my collection. I recommend this title for grades 4-8.