To Stay Alive

by Skila Brown
Lexile:  860
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Novel in Verse

Mary Ann Graves and her family are traveling from Illinois to California.  They have sold off all of their belongings and loaded up three wagons and are eager to start a new life.  It is a tough journey and along the way, accidents happen, people get sick, food and water become scare and life or death decisions have to be made.  When the family decides to split off from the group and take a short cut through the mountains, it is a decision that will prove deadly for some.  Will Mary Ann and her family ever make it to California?

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