Young Riders of the Pony Express

by Gunderson, Brian Bascle (Illustrator)

Tells the story of the building, running, and closing of the Pony Express mail delivery system. Written in graphic-novel format.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great intro to the story of the Pony Express. The graphic format really brings the reader into the action.

Among the amazingly many books for young readers about the Pony Express listed on Goodreads, there is one published in 1944 that is not yet on the list: The Pony Express by Gaylord DuBois illustrated by Sydney Fletcher.

I'm mentioning the 1944 version here because its was so startlingly.

I found my copy at an Estate sale at the home of a long time California historian. Even though published in a format similar to a Golden Book, I delayed reading it thinking it would be a rehash of Pony Express facts, grown even dustier given that the book was written over seventy years ago.

What I discovered is that the book focused on a collection of the youngest riders, aged 11 to 15, and tells their--harrowing--stories.

The first young man we meet is eleven year old Charlie Miller who is thrust on a horse when a riderless horse--the rider having been killed somewhere on the trail--shows up at the Express station. Among Charlie's challenges on an early ride is to ford a raging river filled with chunks of ice in conditions so cold his horse's eyes freeze shut.

From Charlie's drop off station in Carson City Nevada, fourteen year old Billy Tate picks up the mail to head east. Tousled blond-haired Tate had already had an eventful life including, when a small child, being one of only five male survivors of the Mountain Meadows Massacre--a massacre by Indians (or Mormons depending on the history book you read) of an entire wagon train, including women and children. During Billy's fateful Pony Express ride described in the book, the reader is given a blow-by-blow account of Billy being over taken by twelve indians, seeking shelter among some rocks, shooting and killing seven of his attackers before succumbing to death by arrows.

Briefly we return to Charlie Miller, who gets an arrow in the shoulder and another in his wrist, barely making it to the express station to which he arrives having lost dangerous amounts of blood.

Finally we get the story of fifteen year old Billy Cody who meets some white desperadoes on the trail but manages to kill and capture them--singlehandedly--before they can do him in. In later years he became Buffalo Bill of Wild West Show fame.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was interesting and creative. It looks fun.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This provides a decent summary of the rise and end of the Pony Express.

[Queen Lucille · Rating 5 out of 5]

During elementary I read this book about 5,000 times.