Not my favorite Dear America book I've read but it was interesting to read about life in my home state back in the day. ( )

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not. ( )

Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, called Polly by her family, is the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Baptist minister. She was born and raised in England, but now her father has decided to move the family to Minnesota in search of religious freedom. Polly begins her diary on the journey by steamship to America and describes the challenges her family and friends face on their journey to their new home, challenges that do not end once they reach Minnesota. The Rodgers and their fellow settlers face the bitter cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer, endless blizzards, a disastrous plague of locusts, as well as illness and death.

Land of the Buffalo Bones is an excellent addition to the Dear America series that described the hardships of life on the prairie in the 1870s. It is unique among the books of the series in that it is based on the life of a real person from the author's family. I recommend this book to all fans of the series. ( )