It’s 1864, and when Pa announces that the family is heading west via wagon train to set up a business supporting gold mining in Colorado, Emmy Blue is game, though Ma hesitates, loath to leave friends and home. With more pressure from Pa, they go, and “Ma made up her mind to like it.” Emmy Blue narrates the grueling westward trek as privation and fear take their toll, as do rattlesnakes, family strife, and homesickness. (New friends, thankfully, do help build a sense of community.) Worst of all, at least for Emmy Blue, she is expected to piece squares of a quilt together as she walks. Quilting? Really? In time, however, the work becomes soothing and satisfying, as Dallas overlays the story with aspects of quilting and how important it was for pioneer women. Emmy’s rescue by an Indian after she becomes separated from the train seems like a prescribed attempt to balance the settlers’ many negative remarks about Indians, but the plot, characterizations, and drama add up to a strong historic adventure tale. — Anne O’Malley