Boom Town

Boom Town is a 1998 historical fiction picture book written by Sonia Levitin, illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith and published by Orchard Books. Boom Town tells the story of Amanda and her family after they move to California to accompany her father in his search for gold during the California Gold Rush. To alleviate her boredom, Amanda figures out how to bake pies, and by a combination of circumstance and cleverness she starts a successful bakery that kickstarts the settlement into becoming a boomtown. Favorably reviewed at the time of its release, Boom Town was nominated for the Nebraska Golden Sower Award and was included in the Reading Teacher's 1999 Teacher's Choices list of recommended books for curriculum use. Background Though she spent most of her career writing young adult fiction, author Sonia Levitin ventured into writing picture books in the late-twentieth century. One of these picture books was Nine for California. Published in 1996, Nine for California is a work of historical fiction about a girl named Amanda and her family's journey from Missouri to California during the California Gold Rush. While reading a book about the history of California, Levitin noticed a description of a girl who, during the Gold Rush, baked $11,000 worth of pies. Inspired by this story, Levitin wrote Boom Town as a sequel to Nine for California, further developing the story of Amanda and her family.