I read two really unique picture books about going West.

The first one is called The Buffalo Storm by Katherine Applegate. This book is a girl who is not afraid of anything (except storms) and has to stay brave while traveling with her family on a wagon train moving west. Her grandmother makes her a "storm blanket" to wrap around her when she is scared of storms. I really liked the way the author paints a picture of the beautiful, untouched scenery of the west. The illustrations are gorgeous and really add to the telling of the story.

The second book is called The Elephant Quilt: Stitch by Stitch to California by Susan Lowell. This book is very unique because it the theme of quilting is incorporated into the illustrations and the language used to describe events in the book. The story is about a little girl going west with her family who is working on a quilt with her grandmother. Each event on their adventure west is documented as they design and add details to their quilt. It is called "The Elephant Quilt" because a certain prairie animal was at first mistaken for an elephant. Can you guess which one?