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Key City on the River
On a cold November afternoon in 1833, two wagons are about to cross the dark Mississippi River into Iowa on a tiny boat. Penny Cooper, Nate Tilden, Aunt Sunday, and Jonathan and Ella Butterman are full of questions. Aunt Sunday just wants to know if they're going to drown. Jonathan and Ella wonder if they will succeed in the new territory. And Penny and Nate are eager to learn if they are going to be free―to marry, to prosper, to live as free people.
Aunt Sunday, Penny, and Nate were slaves in Kentucky, not a year before. What will Iowa decide on the question of owning human beings? No one yet knows.
The little group survives the Mississippi crossing and settles in Key City. There isn't much to the town: a few log cabins and modest buildings in a forest opening. And very rough, very tough lead miners, including the mad Ginn brothers who hate Nate and his dark skin. They can't forget he stopped them from stealing Jonathan's horse. Storm clouds are brewing.
Key City on the River is based on fact and takes place in a real town. It explores a little known time in early American history as well as the timeless issue of otherness mixed with hope for the future.
Aunt Sunday, Penny, and Nate were slaves in Kentucky, not a year before. What will Iowa decide on the question of owning human beings? No one yet knows.
The little group survives the Mississippi crossing and settles in Key City. There isn't much to the town: a few log cabins and modest buildings in a forest opening. And very rough, very tough lead miners, including the mad Ginn brothers who hate Nate and his dark skin. They can't forget he stopped them from stealing Jonathan's horse. Storm clouds are brewing.
Key City on the River is based on fact and takes place in a real town. It explores a little known time in early American history as well as the timeless issue of otherness mixed with hope for the future.
120 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 11, 2019
I picked this up from a display at my local library. The spine label says Iowa Book, and so I'm not sure of the target audience. I give it 3 stars if it is for elementary or lower reading middle schoolers. 1.5stars if it is for adults.
I think this would be a nice book for museums and tourist gift shops along The Great River Road.
PS.
I just now looked up the publishing company and I see that they publish books to encourage adult literacy. I stand corrected. I stick with 3 stars across the board.
http://www.gemmamedia.com/books/open-...
I think this would be a nice book for museums and tourist gift shops along The Great River Road.
PS.
I just now looked up the publishing company and I see that they publish books to encourage adult literacy. I stand corrected. I stick with 3 stars across the board.
http://www.gemmamedia.com/books/open-...
October 5, 2025
Key City on the River
Read and teaching ESL using this book.
Pleased that my students caught a small typo on their own. The book has many discussion points, phrasal verbs, and some idioms. My students are enjoying it.
Not sure why this continues to display as The Cell Phone Lot when I have selected Key City on the River
Read and teaching ESL using this book.
Pleased that my students caught a small typo on their own. The book has many discussion points, phrasal verbs, and some idioms. My students are enjoying it.
Not sure why this continues to display as The Cell Phone Lot when I have selected Key City on the River
May 12, 2026
Another very short read this one detailing the lives of a group of people moving into the new Iowa territory in the 1830s. It was interesting to hear about a town forming out of the wilderness and into being a community. The back of the book spoke about issues with freed people of color in these new towns and there were some minor friction there, but it was not really explored. I would have liked to learn more about the life of these former slaves in a territory that was not yet a state while the law on slavery was still being established there. These stories in the rapid read series give you a very nice but short overview and normally make me want to research more on the topic. This one is no different.
April 30, 2024
It is so hard to write leveled readers (for children) and literacy reads like this one (for teens and adults, ESL, EFL, or just those struggling). They have to be interesting stories, and it's best if they're also enlightening or educational, and they have to scan fluidly, like a 'real' book, despite limited vocabulary and sentence complexity.
This succeeds on all counts. Though I grew up in Wisconsin, and read all the pioneer stories I could find (like Little House on the Prairie), I had no idea about Leadville, free Black servants, etc. Fascinating historical fiction, with author's note and bibliography.
My only quibble is the repeated use of "alright." I know that language evolves, but I am not ready for that to be an acceptable word.
This succeeds on all counts. Though I grew up in Wisconsin, and read all the pioneer stories I could find (like Little House on the Prairie), I had no idea about Leadville, free Black servants, etc. Fascinating historical fiction, with author's note and bibliography.
My only quibble is the repeated use of "alright." I know that language evolves, but I am not ready for that to be an acceptable word.
July 13, 2024
Another great short story from the Gemma Open Door series. Young and Black, Nate and Penny are traveling with a white couple, Mr. and Mrs. Butterman, and aged Black Aunt Sunday. It's 1833 and they are traveling by covered wagon to Iowa territory for a new life. Enforcing slavery is still up in the air here. There are hardships, prejudice, new friendships forged, and danger from unscrupulous settlers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews