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Call of the Klondike: A True Gold Rush Adventure Hardcover – Illustrated, October 1, 2013

by David Meissner (Author), Kim Richardson (Author)

4.2 28 ratings

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Winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction

The remarkable tale of two young men during the Klondike Gold Rush, told through first-hand diaries, letters, and more—“excellent reading” for middle grade fans of The Call of the Wild and adventure stories (School Library Journal)

As thousands head north in search of gold, Marshall Bond and Stanley Pearce join them, booking passage on a steamship bound for the Klondike goldfields. The journey is life threatening, but the two friends make it to Dawson City, in Canada, build a cabin, and meet Jack London—all the while searching for the ultimate reward: gold!

A riveting, true, action-packed adventure, with their telegrams, diaries, and letters, as well as newspaper articles and photographs. An author’s note, timeline, bibliography, and further resources encourage readers to dig deeper into the Gold Rush era.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up–Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond were adventurous young men in the summer of 1897 when they watched prospectors coming into Seattle from Canada's Northwest Territories. Loaded down with gold dust, the prospectors told of the incredible riches to be found in the Klondike. Pearce and Bond both came from mining families and felt certain that their fortunes would be made if they could convince their parents to advance them money to venture north. With the funding forthcoming, the two mounted a well-planned, swiftly mobilized expedition that would see them working at superhuman levels for nearly a year–and returning with little to show for their efforts. Coauthor Richardson is a descendant of Pearce. Using the men's letters, along with newpaper accounts, excerpts from Bond's diary, and period photographs and reproductions, the book brings immediacy to the experience of young men in extreme conditions. The writing style is engaging, the inclusion of primary-source documents seamless, and the story thoroughly engrossing. Despite the high-interest nature of the text, the syntax and spelling could prove challenging for many students because much of it was written by late-Victorians. However, with some guidance, the book will find a readership. More focused on the experience of a few specific individuals than Charlotte Foltz Jones's Yukon Gold (Holiday House, 1999), this is excellent reading not only for interest, but also for support of the Common Core Standards as it is an excellent example of text complexity. The bibliography rounds out this volume nicely. Solid fare.–Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WAα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Hearing the cry of “Gold!” Marshall Bond and Stanley Pearce readied themselves for prospecting for gold in the Klondike. The friends, in their late twenties, had mining backgrounds and college degrees, and well-to-do families to fund their trip. From September 1897 to July 1898, they survived exposure to a harsh winter (negative-60 degrees), endless summer days, hardship, and near-death. They never struck it rich, but they learned a great deal about themselves. An authors note describes how the book was born when Richardson, the great-great-nephew of Pearce, told his friend, Meissner, about a bag of letters that had been handed down in his family. Intertwining these letters, telegrams, and newspaper reports with historical research, archival photographs, and a personal hike over the Chilkoot Trail, Meissner then collaborated to compose this eye-opening work, which is a natural companion for Jack London’s Call of the Wild and other historical-fiction works about the Klondike gold rush. Grades 7-10. --J. B. Petty

Review

". . . An eye-opening work, which is a natural companion for Jack London's Call of the Wild and other historical-fiction works about the Klondike gold rush." —Booklist

★ "A remarkable collection of documents paints a picture of the Klondike gold rush in vivid detail. . . Adding only transitional paragraphs, the authors skillfully arrange these letters plus diary entries, telegrams and Pearce's articles for the Denver Republican to convey the men's story in compelling, first-person voices. The attractive design incorporates intriguing pull-out quotes, maps, posters, documents and many well-chosen, captioned photographs, including one of Jack London, who camped near Pearce and Bond's cabin . . . an excellent companion to The Call of the Wild. A memorable adventure, told with great immediacy."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This is excellent reading... "—School Library Journal

About the Author

David Meissner has travelled to more than thirty countries and is obviously no stranger to adventure. While researching this book, he hiked the Chilkoot Trail from Alaska into Canada. David is a teacher who has written more than twenty children's books.

Kim Richardson is the great-great nephew of Stanley Pearce, whose Klondike adventures inspired this book. He has travelled to five continents and otherregions of the earth. Kim is a haiku poet and works in children's publishing. He lives with his family just outside London, England.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

SKAGAWAY, ALASKA. 6TH AUG. 1897

Dear Mrs. Pearce:—

...The trail from here to the summit—about 18 miles—is sickening, and it is nothing to have half a dozen horses down at once. From the summit on its an open & easy country. A series of small lakes, connected, will enable us to make rapid progress with our things in canoe, and then a six mile pack lands us at a lake which forms the head of the Yukon. While it looked very bleak for us for awhile I think now, we shall get our outfit thro by Sept. 1st, wh[ich] allows ample time for getting down the river before it freezes. We have undertaken a big task, but I now think we can safely count ourselves through. Hundreds of men & horses arrive on every steamer, and the trail is lined with men staggering under every pound they can pack. Lots of men have lost their nerve, sold out for a song, and started back for Seattle. Our boats (taken apart) are daily moved forward with our camps. No one who has't experienced this trip can understand the obstacles to be overcome: its like an army campaign as one has to take clothing and a years provisions with one. While we have to work very hard there is no cause or worryment on your past as you might realize if you could see the amount of food we stow away at each meal. Mail is very uncertain, and while we will write you at every opportunity, you had better not write Stanley until we can give you some positive address...

With kind regards to Mr. Pearce, I am,
Sincerely Yours

Marshall Bond

SKAGAWAY BAY, AUG 9. 1897

Dearest Mother,

Many happy returns of the day. Bond tells me he wrote you the other day.
We are going through slowly but surely and working like fiends. I think nothing of making my 16 miles a day and am feeling fine. I have come down today to find a horse we had left behind and drive him up to camp, 12 miles from here.
This is an exciting life and I seem to be living a new life. Last night while looking up at the stars rolled snugly up in my sleeping bag I saw the grand Northern lights shooting up from a semicircle above the mountain and looking exactly like huge search lights shifting and cutting into space. It made me feel that now we were nearer the presence of our Maker than I had ever been before and I felt how small & trivial our small troubles & pleasures had been.
I am happy and ambitious, am confident of making a name for myself, and should I not find fortune it will make a man of me, and should I get through this trip I shall be able to understand anything in the world.
Dearest love to you and all, dont worry about me if you dont hear.
I am the toughest looking customer you ever saw absolutely filthy & glad of it.
Your devoted son—

S.H. Pearce

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Calkins Creek; Illustrated edition (October 1, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 168 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1590788230
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1590788233
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1100L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 7
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 0.64 x 9.31 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,851,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #161 in Children's Canadian History
- #722 in Children's Exploration Books
- #2,771 in Children's Books on Boys' & Men's Issues

Customer Reviews:
4.2 28 ratings

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Kim Richardson

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Kim Richardson, born in Surrey, UK, has worked in publishing since 1977, is a founder partner of children’s book packager Bender Richardson White, and owns and runs Alba Publishing (www.albapublishing.com), publisher of haiku and related forms, as well as long-form poetry. He is an associate editor of the haibun journal.

Kim’s work has appeared in various poetry magazines and haiku and haibun journals over the years, has been anthologised and translated, and he is a past recipient of the Haiku Museum of Literature Award (2001). In 2005 he published a joint haiku poetry collection, Double Rainbow, with Maeve O’Sullivan. In 2013, with David Meissner, the non-fiction book Call of the Klondike was published by Calkins Creek Press, USA. Kim’s first solo haiku, senryu and haibun poetry collection, Night Ferry, was shortlisted for the 2018 Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Book Award.

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Sunday C

Add this to 5th-8th classroom libraries or buy a set for nonfiction literature circles

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2014

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I’d recommend this book for a a nonfiction literature circle in grades 5 (savvy readers) through 8 (striving readers). It would also be worthy of doing a book talk and placing in a prominent space in the classroom library –in hopes that a student will pick up for independent reading. The authors have done a fabulous job of tapping and integrating primary sources “to tell the story of” two men’s journey to the farthest reaches of the gold strike in the late 19th century – territory near the rugged Dawson City in rural Canada.

In the summer of 1897, Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond, two college friends, were in Seattle when gold diggers returned with a plethora of nuggets. They immediately touched base with family about financing a trip up north. Bond kept a diary and both wrote to their parents. These primary sources along with telegrams and news articles (written by Pearce) were preserved by family members and landed in the hands of Kim Richardson, a co-author.

The text is almost equal parts narrative/informational text written by the authors and primary sources--woven together in a seamless narrative along with maps, photographs, and other 19th century sources of print. The appeal of the narrative is in the harrowing moments of Bond and Pearce’s party’s trek across the White Pass Trail (where there was not a clear path and it was already snowing) and the ride down the treacherous Whitehorse rapids–all with a year’s worth of provisions! Then there’s the continuous exposure to severe weather and the many times futile attempts to discover any gold – all with a ton of work and an unexpected ending.

This book would be a great way to immerse students in reading primary sources – sources that are a little more accessible than say the Declaration of Independence – without a ton of support from you, the teacher. For more thoughts on prompts I would use for reading response or preparation for nonfiction literature circle discussions - visit my blog entry on this at http://sundaycummins.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/book-review-and-reading-response-prompts/.

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austin peckinpaugh

Great book!

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021

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Great book for a feel of life during the gold rush! It was a little confusing figuring out where the chapters were as they aren’t clearly marked

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2019

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It’s a bad and crappy book don’t buy it unless your a teacher if your not just search it up on the internet

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Michael O'Neill

Great story, well told.

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2013

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True adventure, with fun and informative graphics.

This really brings to life what it was like to be off an adventure prospecting in a gold rush, probably repeated for thousands or tens fo thousands of young men in our country's history.

I've bought copies for all the young people in my family. Be bold!

One person found this helpful

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Debbie Wilson

Real Look at the Klondike

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2017

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Marshall Bond and Stanley Pearce saw the first adventurers to the Klondike return to Seattle with bags of gold. Borrowing money from their fathers, they went north to Alaska and overland into the Klondike. Using their letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles, David Meissner recreates their adventures on the Dead Horse Trails, through the rapids, and hiking twenty or thirty miles in life-threatening cold. He describes the bone-breaking work of digging for gold. Meissner writes a history, not a historical novel. It is well-written, entertaining, and holds the interest. He has chosen his pictures well.

One person found this helpful

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Art Ithaca

Amazing True Adventure

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2013

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This is an amazing true adventure story backed up by photos, diary entries, and letters. It is an easy and quick read for readers young and old. I read it in one sitting.

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Maggie Knapp

Gold rush adventure for middle school: 4.5 stars

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2013

When the Alaskan gold rush began in 1897, thousands of men (some more prepared than others) rushed to gather supplies and make their way to Dawson City, Canada, the boom town that was the jumping off point to purchase a share of a claim and work the frozen ground. While some few "struck it rich" many more lost their shirts or dropped out before ever reaching the Klondike fields.

The story is based largely on letters and newspapers stories from Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond, Yale-educated friends who headed out ahead of the "stampeders", and worked a claim under trying conditions, coming home not much better off than they had left. Authors Meissner and Richardson include many photographs from the time, as well as photos of the handwritten letters.Though the book is in black in white (as are all the photos) frequent enlarged quotes and boxed areas, keep the text lively for the target audience of 8 to 12 year olds. The authors supplement the letters with outside research, and include end notes detailing what happened to some of the major players after the gold rush, a timeline, historical notes and a bibliography.

For those looking for readable nonfiction for tweens, this is a fine story of adventure. Jack London was a neighbor of Pearce and Bond, and later wrote that Buck (the dog in Call of the Wild) was based on a dog owned by Marshall Bond. Readers who enjoyed Victoria McKernan's historical fiction book Shackelton's Stowaway, or Martin Sandler's The Impossible Rescue might enjoy this story of adventure.

About me: I'm a middle school/high school librarian
How I got this book: advance reading copy from the publisher

3 people found this helpful

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James Bowers

Great perspective on overlooked historical event

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014

This is a great piece of non-fiction about the Klondike gold rush of the early 1900's. The author combines letters and journal entries from two participants in the gold rush along with newspaper articles and photographs from the time to give readers a unique perspective on life while traveling to the region and during their time chasing a dream of riches while prospecting in the Northwest Territories. He succinctly adds historical perspective to the entries to give readers a more rounded understanding of these events.

This book will provide upper elementary / middle school students and adults alike with a lasting "connection" to a uniquely American event. Great quick read!

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