The Last Voyageurs: Retracing La Salle’s Journey Across America; Sixteen Teenagers on the Adventure of a Lifetime

In this action-packed dual narrative, Boissoneault, an editor at the Weather Channel, shares a charming slice of U.S. Bicentennial history. In 1973, Reid Lewis, a high school French teacher, outdoorsman, and historical reenactor, was in his mid-30s and at a career crossroads. Dedicated to education but dismayed by the restrictions of the classroom, he came up with an idea for a high-profile adventure that would honor the Bicentennial while illustrating the benefits of hands-on learning. Lewis chose to reenact an important early American exploration: the 1681 Mississippi River voyage of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Lewis recruited five other teachers, a priest, and 16 teenage boys to represent the original expedition’s personnel, and he assembled a support team to help with logistics and publicity for the eight-month trip. There was fund-raising, too; the project cost around $595,000 (about $2.5 million today). All the elements of an exciting adventure story are here. Boissoneault describes interesting, complicated people facing life-threatening perils, and in alternating Lewis’s story with that of La Salle’s journey, she makes fascinating historical comparisons. Illus. [em]Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson, and Lerner Literary Agency. (Apr.) [/em]