The Bread Sister of Sinking Creek

 
I wanted to like this book.

Fourteen year old, Maggie Calhoun runs away from Philadelphia after her mother dies to find her aunt in Pennsylvania's Great Valley. She doesn't find her aunt but she takes her aunt's place as the "bread sister" baking sourdough bread for the pioneer families.

I love to bake sourdough bread and enjoy stories of pioneer families. I'm not sure why I was disappointed in the book. Maybe near drownings, almost freezing to death in a snow bank, and severe burns from a fire made the story  unbelievable. I know life in pioneer days was hard but it seemed a lot to crowd into a year or two of one girl's life.

The author tried to show the strength and courage of the pioneer women but managed to make the men appear like bumbling fools.  I would have liked to have learned more about the mill, the center of life in a pioneer community. I wondered if Maggie and the "bread sister" was based on a historical character or purely from imagination.

The sequels to The Bread Sister of Sinking Creek may be better but I doubt I'll take the time to find out.