Donner Dinner Party

Hale, Nathan. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Donner Dinner Party. Henry N. Abrams, 2013.

This graphic novel depicts the events that led up to and the aftermath of the Donner party's emigration to California. Told by Nathan Hale (along with side comments by his two buddies from previous books in this series), this book makes the story come alive without being overly graphic and disgusting about the whole cannibalism thing. The interjections by the narrator are interesting and entertaining, and there are lots of graphs and charts and maps throughout the book as well.  This is a nonfiction title that will make my students actually want to read nonfiction.

Recommended for: teens, tweens
Red Flags: some violence (people shot off stage, etc.), mentions of cannibalism
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars