The Riders of the Pony Express: A Book Review

It came to my attention last weekend that the children are missing a vital – and entertaining – knowledge of the Wild West. It doesn’t come up in their curriculum, I guess. A little bit about the Gold Rush and Western Expansion, I suppose, but none of the important stuff. Nope, no Wyatt Earp, no Kit Carson, no Sam Houston, no Pony Express or Buffalo Bill or Wild Bill Hickok. Nothing. So, as any good homeschooling mother with an amazon account would do, I started scaring up books. Surprisingly, modern histories of the heroes of the West are hard to come by. At least, good ones are. So I’ve been scouting around for older books. Many of the titles I’ve procured are out of print, but not all of them. I’ll post reviews as I read them.

Today’s five star title is Riders of the Pony Express, by Ralph Moody. This book is an edge-of-the-seat thriller right from the get go, but an easy read for any child who has achieved fluency. Even better, it’ll grab the attention of boys, who tend to be a little more reluctant in the reading department. This is high adventure at its finest, featuring violent weather and hostile landscapes, trustworthy mustangs and Indian ambushes. There’s not a character in this book whose courage and determination are not worthy of admiration and emulation.

The Pony Express only operated for 14 months, and it was organized by private businessmen in the lead up to the Civil War in order to help ensure that California, which had been admitted to the Union as a free state, would not side with the South due to a lack of speedy communication. Maps at the head of each chapter help the reader to follow along on the route. Oh, and the artwork is outstanding.