Ruth by Lake and Prairie: A Great Lakes Journey To The American Frontier

Ruth, her mischievous younger brother Amos and rugged older brother Ned were part of a company of thirteen courageous families who endured windless days and stormy nights in an over-crowded sailing schooner on the Great Lakes. Landing in a swampy little town soon to be known as Chicago, Ruth and the other settlers then walked westward with their belongings in covered wagons across the Illinois prairie to put down roots in new homesteads along the DuPage River. Pioneer Joseph Naper led the journey to start the town that bears his name but the story is viewed through the eyes of his twelve-year-old niece Ruth Eliza Murray. While written for children eight through twelve, adults also enjoy this "history quickie," that tells the story how the Illinois prairie town of Naperville was founded. Long-forgotten facts uncovered over months of research are woven into an historical narrative reminiscent of the "Little House on the Prairie" books.