Barbara Witteman

I'm sorry but I haven't found any ONE book for children on Sacagawea that says it all and that I can recommend to my mom and dad friends who homeschool or supplement their children's education. But this short book on Sacagawea is certainly very nice and perfect for book reports for younger children.

For one thing it uses lots of images. Some is artwork and some are photographs. There is a picture of tee-pee, for example, and while most children have an idea of what they look, I am pretty sure that most have never seen a color photo of an earth lodge. In dealing with the images I particularly like that the book is very clear that we don't know what Sacagawea looks like, and that the earth lodges and Fort Mandan are re-creations.

And while it is mostly praise that I have for showing so many representations of this adventurous woman, I was somewhat disappointed that they could not find a picture of a real tee-pee-- one not made out of white canvas.

As far as written content, the book is very good. The explanation for the different spellings of Sacagawea -- Sacajawea, Sakakawea-- is very clear. And I particularly like that the author chose to take the time to explain the differences between the Shoshone and the Hidatsa. "The Shoshone moved to where they could find plants or animals to eat." "The Hidatsa lived in earth houses. ...They had large gardens. They grew enough vegetables to last all year."

As you can see, the author doesn't use sophisticated words to describe the lifestyles, but rather gives details children can readily comprehend.

All in all, this is a very satisfying book. It doesn't shield children from historical reality, i.e. we don't know when or where Sacagawea died. It covers the trip, Sacagawea's personal contribution, and how later she had a daughter and that the children went to live with Clark. It does however gloss over some facts that some adults might not want younger children to know. See Considerations below.

Considerations:::
A good book with a sound historian-type approach. Sacagawea by Barbara Witteman is not dull, or at least my kids didn't think so--currently 7 and 9.

This book mentions Charbonneau's (wiki) being 25 years older than his new bride, but not that he bought Sacagawea to be his second wife. It also doesn't mention Lewis' suicide.

Pam T
mom and reviewer at http://www.BooksForKids-reviews.com

ps-- when I post the review at the site I hope to have the chapter titles… (més)