★"Readers will gobble up Karr's hilarious novel of a boy who resolves to walk 1000 turkeys from the Show-Me state to Denver, Colorado." —Publishers Weekly
★"Full of good humor and page-turning quest-style events...This novel begs to be read aloud." —School Library Journal
"A wide-open western epic, inspired by actual drives and featuring a cast of capable young people." —Kirkus
The Great Turkey Walk
Kathleen Karr
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / 1998
Big, brawny Simon Green, who's just completed third grade (for the fourth time), may not be book smart, but he's nobody's fool. When it's time to be done with school and make his way in the world, Simon hatches a plan that could earn him a bundle. He intends to herd a huge flock of bronze turkeysall the way from his home in eastern Missouri to the boomtown of Denver, where they'll fetch a mighty price. In the year 1860, the hazards of such a trek are many - how does one shepherd the birds across a river, for instance? - but Simon is undaunted. Accompanied by a faithful drover, and eventually to be joined by two boon companions, he undertakes the biggest journey of his young life, in this high-spirited Wild Wild West adventure by an acclaimed author of historical fiction.
In 1860, a somewhat simple-minded fifteen-year-old boy attempts to herd one thousand turkeys from Missouri to Denver, Colorado, in hopes of selling them at a profit.