By the Great Horn Spoon
Written by Sid Fleischman
Reviewed by Brooke O (age 11)
The story, By the Great Horn Spoon, tells about a boy named Jack and his butler, Praiseworthy, and how they go on an adventure on the Lady Wilma to California. On their way they face many hardships, such as runnig out of coal and facing a terribe rain storm. These are only part of the many hardships they face. Some of the other things they face are not finding the map that told how to get to the best gold spot in California, and running into Bullwip.
While Praiseworthy and Jack were on the Lady Wilma they had to pass through the Land of Fire. The Land of Fire is a place where natives light huge fires and keep them going day and night. Jack and Praiseworthy out of food and water so they drank the water from the spoiled potatos and ate the skin of the grapes. In California, Praisewothy and Jack had no gold, they had a razor. They decided to set up a shaving business and get gold from shaving beards.
At the end of the story, Praiseworthy and Jack got on a boat to head home, but the ship started to sink. They decided to jump off the boat. While they were in the water, they started to sink because of the gold. They had to take all the money out of their pockets. When they got to shore, they had no gold, but then Aunt Isabella came and she and Praiseworthy got married.
I wouldn't have changed anything in the story because the book was so good and exciting. My favorite part is when Praiseworthy asked Aunt Isabella to marry him because it was so sweet and romantic. My favorite character is Praiseworthy because he is smart and knows what he is doing. My least favorite character is Bullwhip because he is mean and steals a lot of things from Jack and Praiseworthy.
There are pictures in the story that help you see what is going on in the story. I think that other people should read this because it gives a good description of the California Gold Rush.