Danger Along the Ohio by Patricia Willis is a 1998-99 Hoosier Award Nominee for Fourth through Sixth Grades.

In 1793, Mr. Dunn and his three children, Amos, Clara and Jonathan, leave their home in Pennsylvania to settle in the Ohio frontier. They travel by flatboat along the Ohio River. When banked along a settlement, they are attacked by Shawnee Indians. The children are able to escape on the flatboat, but leave their father behind. Down the river, they are attacked again and must abandon their flatboat because an flaming arrow has caught it on fire. They set out on foot for Marietta, Ohio, hoping to find their father there. Along the way, they find an injured Indian, who they call Red Moccasin. After nursing him back to health, they are captured by his Shawnee tribe.

Amos, who is still feeling guilty for having accidentally shot and killed his best friend in Pennsylvania, reaches out a hand of friendship to Red Moccasin and his tribe.

Rating:

This book is excellent! Not only does it teach the history of the era, but it gives you an idea of what it would have been like to live during those times. Kirsten reviewed The Floating House, which is another book about this era and about another family who moves from Pennsylvania along the Ohio River. You can purchase Danger Along the Ohio through Amazon.