Summary:
This book was about a girl named Sal who would love to drive the horses. She would entertain the passengers by singing. Her father fell off a roof and into a hornets nest do she decided to help her father. Poetic Pete was a bandit who was on the loose so she had to be very careful. Poetic Pete asks to get on and he sits next to her, she then starts to sing. He falls asleep and Sal cuffs him.

Personal Reaction:
I personally loved this book. I loved how the books would portray the bumps in the road.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. We could discuss the maintance and what it took to keep the wagon in good condion; history of wagon.
2. Talk about the author, who was a stagecoach.

Stagecoach Sal by D. Hopkinson is a book about a young spunky girl who hopes to drive the stagecoach and deliver mail. Sal would ride and sing all day and night to her father while helping drive kind folks all over the west and picking up mail along the way. One day Sal’s father fell off the stagecoach and could not deliver mail so it was up to Sal to get the job done. She was so excited that her day to drive had finally appeared. Sal took it upon herself to deliver the mail, even though there was a bandit named Poetic Pete out and about along the trail. Poetic Pete is known for robbing stagecoaches while speaking in rhyme. Along the drive she did come in contact with famous bandit Pete. Luckily for Sal she too could rhyme and sing and this kept Pete preoccupied along the journey. Sal eventually was able to handcuff Pete and take him to jail and save the day while getting the mail in time. This book is based on a true story however the general tale has been changed from the original story so it would be considered historical fiction none the least.
Personal Reaction:
I think the author does a great job while describing Sal and her independent nature. Also I think this book would be great for second grades who are learning about the Wild West and the different ways mail was delivered. The illustrations are unique and fit the story perfectly.
Classroom Extension Ideas:
1.The teacher could due a study over how to wright a letter and the different ways letters use to be delivered.
2. Students could wright their own creative stories about the Wild West with a bandit and a stagecoach.
3. The teacher could maybe find old pictures of stagecoaches and have the students draw what they think a stagecoach looked like inside and then compare their ideas to the real thing.

Sal boasts of her skill at "ropin', trick ridin', and shootin'", but it's her singing talent that saves her when a sticky situation occurs on her first night driving the family stagecoach solo.

Summary: Sal is a young girl who wants to drive her own stagecoach. She gets her chance when her grandfather is stung by wasps. Her nervous mother waves her off as she starts her journey to deliver the mail. Poetic Pete a robber tries to sweet talk sal but sal is able to sing him to sleep and turn him in.

Personal Reflection: I love how Sal is a strong independent women. I really appreciate the story and how it tells the story of a girl.

Reflection Projects:
1. Explore different ways that the mail is delivered.
2. Write letters and send them
3. Write different poems and songs

Based upon the life of a real stagecoach driver in nineteenth-century California, Deborah Hopkinson's Stagecoach Sal is the tale of a spunky young girl who loves to accompany her father on his mail runs, and who always begs to be given a chance to hold "the ribbons." Although she becomes an accomplished driver, Sal is known for her singing, and it is this skill that comes to her aid when, her father being incapacitated by an encounter with a hornet's nest, she must drive alone through territory frequented by Poetic Pete the outlaw. This curiously polite robber is known never to interrupt a lady, so Sal makes it a point to sing her heart out, when Pete hitches a ride on her stage...

I enjoyed Stagecoach Sal, both for its story of a can-do kind of gal, and for the charming illustrations by Carson Ellis, whose work I immediately recognized from the cover of The Mysterious Benedict Society, and which have a very pleasing "folksy" feeling here. That said, I think I would have liked a picture-book biography of the real "Stagecoach Sal" - Delia Haskett Rawson - even better. This story was cute, but Rawson's life sounds just fascinating! Still, younger readers who enjoy tales of frontier life, or who want stories about spunky girls, will take to this picture-book romp. ( )