''Cariboo Runaway'' is a

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer

Sandy Frances Duncan Sandy Frances Duncan is a Canadian writer of novels, mysteries, and short stories. Her novel ''Gold Rush Orphan'' was among the finalists for the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize in 2005. She has contributed short fiction to anthologi ...

, published in 1976. Set in the

Cariboo The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region. The Cariboo was the ...

region of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

during the Cariboo Gold Rush of 1864, the novel follows Elva Parkhurst, a young girl from Victoria who disguises herself as a boy in order to find her father after he disappears while prospecting in the Cariboo.

The novel

The main character, 13-year-old Elva T. Parkhurst, discovers that her little brother, Tim, also known as Timothy Parkhurst, may have followed her aboard the famous ''S.S. Beaver,'' although this is left ambiguous''.'' Elva is outraged but soon comes to accept Tim's choice because she starts to rely on his presence. Together, they face many obstacles and dangers, and discover that their father is in jail. It is up to the children to free their father. The novel is frequently taught in

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

units on the Gold Rush.

References

1976 Canadian novels Canadian young adult novels Novels set in British Columbia Fiction set in 1864 Novels set in the 1860s {{Canada-novel-stub