Betsy’s River Adventure

“We’re home,” Mother said, “at last.”

“Home?” Betsy echoed. Not home. Boston was home. They were in Cincinnati.

“Yes, home,” Mother said in a voice that brooked no argument. “This is our new home.”

Book: Betsy's River Adventure: The Journey Westward (1808) (Sisters in Time #7)by Veda Boyd Jones, Barbour Publishers, 2004

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 9-15

Subjects: Jealousy, Revenge, Family Relationships, Personality Differences, Change/Moving

Summary: That George drives her nuts! Betsy can’t stand the way he is always teasing her about her height and drawing attention to her! Moving to a new home is bad enough, taking a long journey to get there is worse, but undergoing the whole trip with her cousin George and his dog? That’s simply intolerable! Times are getting tough in Boston with the ports being closed and her cousin being forced to work on a British warship. Their family decides it’s time for a new start and everyone packs up for the long trip west. The plan is to take a schooner to Philadelphia, then take freight wagons and a stagecoach to the Ohio River where they will float the rest of the way to Cincinnati. Betsy doesn’t know how she will survive moving away from her best friend and spending that much time with cousin George the pest!

Notes: Betsy’s River Adventure is the seventh in the Sisters-In-Time series. This series features young girls living at various key points in American history, particularly around the wars. It always places the girls right at the edge of the teen years, coming of age.  The concept of the series it to not only show a glimpse of history, but to help young girls feel that the people back then weren’t that different than the people today.

Betsy’s River Adventure takes place in 1808 and focuses on what sort of experiences people moving westward might face. The tension comes in the dangers they face while traveling rather than political events of the time. More than the river adventure though, the main focus of this book is simply how hard Betsy finds it to put up with her cousin. She is a shy, quiet girl who wants to fade into the background. George is an energetic outgoing boy who teases her and therefore draws everyone’s attention to her, causing her no end of embarrassment, time and time again. She has to learn how to reach out beyond herself and think of others. She also has to learn to find ways to show love to her cousin even when he upsets her. 

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Colossians 3:13 - Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.