Walk On Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson - Guest Post

Guest Post: ANGELA THOMPSON - East Northumberland SS

Title: Walk on Earth a Stranger

Series: Gold Seer Trilogy (Book #1)

Author: Rae Carson

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 108610

Description: Lee Westfall, a young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold, must flee her home to avoid people who would abuse her powers.  When her best friend heads out across Gold Rush-era America to stake his claim, she disguises herself as a boy and set out on her own dangerous journey.

Angela's Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It!

Why Angela Read It: Truth be told…the cover got me this time.   The title is also poetic and I needed to see if Rae Carson was as skilled a writer as her title lead me to expect.   I have yet to read any of her previous work (Girl of Fire and Thorns series).

Angela's Notes: Walk on Earth a Stranger is the first novel in Rae Carson’s trilogy that centres on the California Gold Rush of 1849. This story begins in Dahlonega, Georgia.  Leah “Lee” Westfall has been raised the best way her father knows how – to hunt, ride bare-back, and do all of the chores around their small farm.   At school, this has earned her the nickname “Plain Lee”.   Appearances can be deceiving and Lee has more important concerns that what superficial girls think about her.  Her father is ill.   Running their homestead falls mainly to her…and she has to be careful.  Lee has what her mother calls a gold-sense.  The sensations are different depending on the size of the deposit and proximity, but Lee is very aware of any amount of gold.  She could easily find enough for her family to live like royalty. However, that would invite the wrong kind of attention – “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”.  Lee even keeps her secret from her best friend, Jackson. 

When flyers start circulating about making one’s fortune in California, Jackson is eager to leave behind his drunk and abusive father and make his own way in the world.  He also wants Lee to come with him.  To that end, he bumbles a proposal that Lee rejects – on the grounds that she has to look after her family and their homestead.  Jackson leaves with the promise that he will wait for her in Independence, Missouri as long as he can – hoping that she will change her mind.  Circumstance throws Lee a nasty hand when she hears two gunshots on her way home.  She gets there to see her father sprawled on the stairs – murdered -- and her mother as well. 

How is a fifteen-year-old girl expected to manage on her own?  Her well-to-do Uncle Hiram comes up from the city and despite an outward show of good will and charity, makes no secret to Lee that he is prepared to put her talent to work for him.  Lee decides then and there that she has to run away.  It takes her a few weeks to put her plans into action, but soon she leaves her home behind -- in the garb of a boy – and with her mare, Peony, sets out to meet up with Jackson and make the journey to California. 

Adventure ensues.  Lee meets a rich cast of travellers – the riverboat boys, and her many companions on their wagon train west.  It is a perilous journey that will get the best of some.  But for those who make it, California is full of endless promise. 

From beginning to end – I was hooked.  I generally shy away from what I consider “wild west” literature.  I’ll happily leave all the cowboys, gunfights, women in bonnets (who can’t lift a finger to help themselves), and “savage” Indians in their stereotypical pages and willingly read almost anything else.  But Carson crafted such an endearing character in Leah “Lee” Westfall that I had to know what happened to her.  Carson also presents and then challenges most of those afore mentioned stereotypes (some to a lesser degree than others). 

The murder of Lee’s parents is descriptive…so a word of caution in that regard.  Another scene that upset me was when they have to bury Mr. Beldsoe.  Along the trail other graves that the company has passed have been desecrated…attributed to “the savages”.  Mr. Joyner decides to leave them a “gift” (251). He gets the blankets from some of the children who have just recovered from the measles and wraps Mr. Bledsoe’s corpse in them.  I was appalled and heart-sick that the only person who seems remorseful is Lee.  With a credit to Carson’s writing, I felt every loss and every triumph on this journey. 

Recommended Readers: Gr. 7 and up.  Protagonist Lee is fifteen.  Some mature content. 

Themes: Historical journeys, family relationships, supernatural gifts, frontier narratives, Gold, Magic, Mining, Disguises, special powers, quests and journeys, secrets, series.

Cross-Genre Links: 

Poem: The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service

Websearch: California Gold Rush

Documentary: The Klondike Gold Rush (PBS 2015)

Websearch: Mining and Panning for Gold

Inquiries and Activities: 

• Why must Lee hide her talent for "gold-sense"?  How could she be exploited?
• Why does Lee disguise herself as a boy? 
• Research either the California or Klondike gold rush.  Create a public service announcement to either entice people to join the gold rush or to warn them against it.  Make sure to include the benefits on one and the drawbacks on the other.
• If you had the opportunity to "get rich quick" would you?
• What sorts of various people and dangers does Lee meet on her travels?  
• There are other famous tales of people who needed to conceal their identity to accomplish their goals.  Who are some of these individuals?  What did their accomplishments contribute to our society?
• Talk about the roles of women in history.  How have these roles changed over time?