The Story of Sacajawea
Guide to Lewis and Clark
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
As a young girl, Sacajawea was separated from her family when she was captured by a band of Minnetaree warriors and taken to be their slave. Several years later, she was bought by a French fur trader to be his wife. Then, in 1804, when she was only sixteen years old, Sacajawea met Lewis and Clark.
Carrying her infant son on her back, Sacajawea helped guide the famous team of explorers through the uncharted terrain of the western United States. Her courageous efforts made an important contribution to America's history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sacajawea's life is the stuff of real Wild West adventure: born a Shoshoni, she was captured at 13 by a hostile tribe and forced into slavery, then married off to a cantankerous French trapper. While caring for her infant son she served as an interpreter and sometimes guide for Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. Unfortunately, this rather tedious biography doesn't do Sacajawea's story justice. Rowland's prose is bland and interest quickly flags. To her credit, the author researched her subject meticulously, and she manages to keep from straying into the realm of legend, but the story never springs to life. The skimpy map and black-and-white illustrations (some of which display an alarmingly inaccurate sense of perspective) are lamentable. If the aim is to interest children in history, better to point them instead to Scott O'Dell's vivid and moving Streams to the River, River to the Sea: A Novel of Sacajawea . Ages 8-11.