Heat lightning streaks across the dark Vermont sky. Little does Daniel, who will soon turn twelve, realize a June blizzard is roaring out of Canada right toward the Barker farm. Knee-deep snow will bury gardens and crops across New England. In July, ice floats in Pennsylvania ponds. Welcome to 1816, the Year Without Summer, or Starving Year, triggered by the violent, volcanic explosion of Mt. Tambora. Fearing the weather has permanently turned cold, the Barkers join others heading west with hopes for a new beginning on the frontier. Steep mountains, a pirate den at Cave-in-Rock, and dangers on the mighty Mississippi await them.

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Inspired by the Barker family's 1817 journey west.