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Wagons West
Experience the 1859 wilderness of David Moreland, the Oregon Trail, and the surprising Christian faith on one brave pioneer.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
About the author
VeraLee Wiggins
38 books4 followersVERALEE WIGGINS has been a favorite of Heartsong readers for a long time. With nine Heartsongs to her credit, she said, 'I want my readers to know that God loves them much more than any earthly person does, and desperately wants them to love Him, too. I want to show that following Him is the best and happiest way to go.' Through her books, she wanted to increase the reader's faith.
VeraLee went home to be with the Lord on December 24, 1995, and will be sadly missed. She has since been inducted into the Heartsong Hall of Fame.
VeraLee went home to be with the Lord on December 24, 1995, and will be sadly missed. She has since been inducted into the Heartsong Hall of Fame.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2026
Number of pages: 220 (every other page is an image)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Young Reader’s Christian Library (books are unrelated and can be read in any order)
Age recommendation: 10-12
Summary: David’s family is excited to head out west to build a new life for themselves. But the Oregon trail is not an easy path - it’s full of danger, hardship and death. Will David and his family make it to the end?
My thoughts: I was very surprised and intrigued when my sister came home with this from the thrift store. I doubt it's in print anymore though, so you probably can't find it anywhere else at this point.
I thought the story was interesting, and there was way more Christian content than I was expecting. David often talks about God to another boy, Jake, who doesn’t believe in Him, as well as with his family who also believe in God. There was a comment about keeping the sabbath (somewhat equated with/connected to going to church on Sunday). It is a pet peeve of mine that many Christians think the sabbath changed to Sunday. The sabbath was and always will be Saturday; yes, Sunday is our special day and we call it the Lord's day, but it is not the sabbath. Sorry for my mini rant ;) Throughout the book, David also prays a lot and asks God for help to be kind to Jake and share his faith with him. The gospel is explained, and although it's not the clearest I've seen in Christian fiction, it’s still understandable.
I found this book to be well-researched, but it definitely had too many random facts thrown in. The facts were not well integrated into the story line; they were used in relevant portions (for example, when explaining what animals they had they talk about getting oxen because they’re cheaper than mules at $25 vs $100), but it made the story disjointed. There wasn’t really anything inherently wrong about doing that, but it did distract from the story.
The font (at least in the version I read) is relatively large and there are pictures on every other page. Besides that, the book itself is really small (dimensionally) so it is actually a pretty short book, even through it’s just over 200 pages. I took a few days to read it anyway as I read a bit each night before bed, but it could easily be read in a single sitting.
I liked the message about loving your enemies and sharing the gospel with everyone because God loves and wants them too. It’s not easy (and David may have been a bit too perfect in that regard), but this was a good reminder that God is able to help us accomplish it.
There was a lot of death and loss in this book. Before reading it, I did realize the Oregon trail was difficult, but this book showed me how difficult it truly was.
To be historically accurate, this book uses terms like Indians to refer to the First Nations peoples. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I appreciate when authors try to be historically accurate with the terms they use, while staying respectful of different cultures/people groups. Jake, as many people of that time period was scared of the natives, but David prayed to God and trusted that those who came had good intentions.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it was definitely worth the couple of dollars my sister paid for it!
My personal rating: 3.5/5 stars.
Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Young Reader’s Christian Library (books are unrelated and can be read in any order)
Age recommendation: 10-12
Summary: David’s family is excited to head out west to build a new life for themselves. But the Oregon trail is not an easy path - it’s full of danger, hardship and death. Will David and his family make it to the end?
My thoughts: I was very surprised and intrigued when my sister came home with this from the thrift store. I doubt it's in print anymore though, so you probably can't find it anywhere else at this point.
I thought the story was interesting, and there was way more Christian content than I was expecting. David often talks about God to another boy, Jake, who doesn’t believe in Him, as well as with his family who also believe in God. There was a comment about keeping the sabbath (somewhat equated with/connected to going to church on Sunday). It is a pet peeve of mine that many Christians think the sabbath changed to Sunday. The sabbath was and always will be Saturday; yes, Sunday is our special day and we call it the Lord's day, but it is not the sabbath. Sorry for my mini rant ;) Throughout the book, David also prays a lot and asks God for help to be kind to Jake and share his faith with him. The gospel is explained, and although it's not the clearest I've seen in Christian fiction, it’s still understandable.
I found this book to be well-researched, but it definitely had too many random facts thrown in. The facts were not well integrated into the story line; they were used in relevant portions (for example, when explaining what animals they had they talk about getting oxen because they’re cheaper than mules at $25 vs $100), but it made the story disjointed. There wasn’t really anything inherently wrong about doing that, but it did distract from the story.
The font (at least in the version I read) is relatively large and there are pictures on every other page. Besides that, the book itself is really small (dimensionally) so it is actually a pretty short book, even through it’s just over 200 pages. I took a few days to read it anyway as I read a bit each night before bed, but it could easily be read in a single sitting.
I liked the message about loving your enemies and sharing the gospel with everyone because God loves and wants them too. It’s not easy (and David may have been a bit too perfect in that regard), but this was a good reminder that God is able to help us accomplish it.
There was a lot of death and loss in this book. Before reading it, I did realize the Oregon trail was difficult, but this book showed me how difficult it truly was.
To be historically accurate, this book uses terms like Indians to refer to the First Nations peoples. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I appreciate when authors try to be historically accurate with the terms they use, while staying respectful of different cultures/people groups. Jake, as many people of that time period was scared of the natives, but David prayed to God and trusted that those who came had good intentions.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it was definitely worth the couple of dollars my sister paid for it!
My personal rating: 3.5/5 stars.
Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...
June 28, 2010
Part 1 of Taming The Land. Not my favorite story in the Young Reader's Christian Library, but still good.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews