Mississippi Escapade: Reliving the Grand Excursion of 1854

In this book readers can travel back in time to 1854 and join the Grand Excursion up the Mississippi River from Rock Island, Illinois to St. Paul. Enhanced by many color illustrations, both historical and modern, this book is a wonderful guide to the land and people who lived and worked along the river at that time. The book is also sprinkled with a variety of learning activities for kids; making it a good resource for teachers of Minnesota and American history. If there is one downside, the book focuses almost completely on the geography and settlement of the land; I wished it had more coverage of steamboats and what it was like to be a passenger on the Grand Excursion.