Homeschool Crew Review: Goldtown Beginnings by Susan K. Marlow

Several years ago, I  reviewed a Circle C Beginnings book (Andi's Scary School Days) by Susan K. Marlow.  Ever since then, I have taken every opportunity I have been offered to review Mrs. Marlow's  books and have purchased several as well.  We own every book that she has written because we love them that much!!  I had been hoping for some time that Mrs. Marlow would write more Goldtown Adventures and was so excited to find out that she had started writing a series called Goldtown Beginnings.  We were thrilled to have a opportunity to read and review the first two books Jem Strikes Gold and Jem's Frog Fiasco  by Susan K. Marlow and published by Kregel Publications.

Susan K Marlow writes wonderful, wholesome, historical fiction books for children.  One set of books takes place on the Circle C Ranch in the 1800's in California, and follows the life of Andrea Carter.  There are 4 different series of Circle C books following Andi Carter at different ages in her life ( In Circle C Beginnings she is 6, Stepping Stones she is 9, Adventures she is 12 and Milestones she is 15-18.)  The other series is called Godtown Adventures which follows the Coulter family during their adventures during the California Gold Rush.  Goldtown Adventures has 4 books in the series and follows the life of 12 year old Jem and his sister Ellie.  The new series, Goldtown Beginnings takes place before Adventures.  It will have 4 books by March and follows the adventures of 7 year old Jem and his sister Ellie.  The Circle C Books are geared more towards girls and Goldtown Adventures more towards boys but  my boys and girls have loved both series.

The first book, Jem Strikes Gold, is 80 pages long and has 10 chapters.  In this book the Coulter family lives in a tent on their gold claim.  Pa works at panning for gold while Mama helps the family survive by doing laundry for others and baking pies and selling them.  One of Jem's jobs is to deliver the pies that Mama bakes.  This job isn't as easy as it sounds because Ellie has to tag along and a mean bully, Will Sterling, causes Jem all kinds of problems.  When Strike-it-rich Sam returns to the gold claim with a scrawny dog Jem is so excited but disappointed when his parents say no, they can't afford another mouth to feed.  But the dog just might make his way into Jem's parents hearts when he helps Jem out of a jam.

The second book, Jem's Frog Fiasco , is also 80 pages long and has 10 chapters.  Jem needs to earn some money to buy dog food. He is offered a job by the cafe owner who will pay Jem for frog legs.  Jem is excited to have a job that he thinks will be easy for a boy like him.  But Ellie and Nugget have to tag along and keep causing problems.  Jem gets angry and tells Ellie to go home.  Later when Jem returns home, Ellie is missing and no one knows where she has gone.


The Goldtown Beginnings books are geared for ages 6-9. Each of the books start with a list of vocabulary words and definitions that may be unfamiliar to the reader such as coyote hole or prospector.  The books end with a Peek Into the Past section that gives a little history of the time period.  Throughout the books you will find cute black and white illustrations.  If you go to the Goldtown Beginnings website you can find sample chapters,  free activity pages to go with the books and more.

Vocabulary Words

Peek into the Past

I read aloud to my 4 youngest children every night.  One chapter book geared for the boys (12 and 14) and one chapter book for the girls (8 and 10) but all of the children listen to both. Right before we found out about this review, we had started The Goldtown Adventures series.  I had read it to the boys a few years ago when it came out but the girls were little and didn't remember.  We finished up that series right as the Beginnings books arrived.  Lily (10) could've definitely read these one her own quickly but Emmie (8) does not yet have enough confidence to read chapter books so we read these for our read aloud time.  (After I finished them, I convinced Emmie that she can read short chapter books like these on her own and she has started reading Jem Strikes God to herself!!)

Even though the stories are geared for the younger children the boys enjoyed listening to them as well.  Christian (12) was gone somewhere the last day I read Jem's Frog Fiasco and had to pick it up and read it himself so he could see how it ended.  One thing I never have to worry about when reading books by Susan K. Marlow is inappropriate content.  The books are wonderful stories that will teach your children life lessons and history as well.  It's fun to step back in time and experience life through the eyes of a child and these books do a great job bringing that history to life for children. Jem struggles with things (like loosing his temper) that children today can relate to and reading how his deals with problems can teach important life lessons.  The books are funny too.  Emmie could not stop laughing when Jem and Ellie were trying to catch the bullfrogs. The length of the books is perfect for the intended age range.  I read 2 chapters a night and we finished both books in 10 days.  We also loved the illustrations.

I highly recommend Goldtown Beginnings and other books by Susan K. Marlow!  We can't wait for the other books to be released! To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!