Lexile measure: 570, other books in series range from 290-450
Language: No swear words, no potty language.
Violence: a lamb dies and is eaten by vultures, other books in the series may have violence relevant to pioneer life, such as the use of guns.
Big Kid Mature Topics: The mother of the children in the story has died from complications of childbirth. The whole story is about the romance of the widowed father and his new wife to be from the perspective of the children. The title character leaves home because her brother gets married and she really has no other choice but to marry. Later in the series the new wife and the father have their own daughter. Also later in the series, we find out that the paternal grandfather of the children in the story abandoned his family when the father of the children was very young.
Plot: moderately complex.
I got this book hoping that I could use it to teach DD something about courage, but I think if we read it together, we may spend a lot of time trying to explain what is going on romantically and emotionally and historically, that we might really miss the whole courage theme. This book is easy enough to read technically but emotionally seems much more appropriate for an older child. The good news is, it is the first of a series.
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