The Story of Sacajawea: Guide to Lewis and Clark

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. (Sept.)