"This lighthearted picture book puts a uniquely human face on the Gold Rush era.... Mama and her five kids...leave Missouri to meet Pa in far-off ‘Californ-y," where he"s been working in the gold fields.... balanced with humor, rambunctious read-aloud language and a bounty of factual information about westward travel in the mid-1800s.... A solid-gold nugget of a history lesson." - Publishers Weekly, starred review