American boys and girls inherit a spirit of adventure from their pioneer ancestors. They respond instinctively to a story as exciting and appealing as this chronicle of a family pilgrimage from Connecticut to the Ohio country in 1811. Though plot and characters are the skillful creation of the author, the story is based on actual records of journeys made by covered wagon and flatboat. It makes vivid the days when a steady procession of white-topped wagons moved slowly westward over dusty roads from Atlantic seaboard towns and villages.

The reader shares the Bartlett family's great adventure chiefly through the eyes and ears and emotions of twelve-year-old Betsy Bartlett and her brother Thomas, who endure the discomforts and dangers of the journey, and enjoy its comedies and novelty, with true Yankee courage and zest.

Miss Lenski's lively drawings supplement the text with an accurate visual record of the period. They are executed in woodcut style and seem to come directly out of the early New England tradition of bookmaking.

In this book the author has added to her achievement in Phoebe Fairchild a period story of similar interest and importance for older boys and girls. 

From the dust jacket