Sacajawea

by Joseph Bruchac

Overview

Captured by her enemies, married to a foreigner, and a mother at age sixteen, Sacajawea lived a life of turmoil and change. Then, in 1804, the mysterious young Shoshone woman met Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Acting as interpreter, peacemaker, and guide, Sacajawea bravely embarked on an epic journey that altered history forever. Hear her extraordinary story, in the voices of Sacajawea and William Clark in alternating chapters, with selections from Clark’s original diaries. Includes a map of Lewis and Clark’s trail and an author’s note.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152064556
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/01/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	199
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

JOSEPH BRUCHAC is a poet, storyteller, and author of more than sixty books for children and adults who has received many literary honors, including the American Book Award and the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. He is of Abenaki and Slovak heritage, and lives in Greenfield Center, New York.

Editorial Reviews

[star] “An engaging book to share with young adults, who will find it all the more fascinating to learn that Sacajawea was a teenager when she made history with Lewis and Clark.”—School Library Journal (starred)“A grand adventure and an inspiration that is not to be missed.”—Kirkus Reviews —

From the Publisher

This fine historical novel alternates between the voices of Sacajawea, the young Shoshone woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark expedition, and William Clark, one of the expedition leaders. The journey from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back, full of hardships and close calls, makes exciting reading. Sacajawea's intelligence and strength come across, especially in Clark's entries, which also set the story in a historical context. Folk tales and excerpts from the expedition journals open each chapter, and a map shows the route. Children who have seen Sacajawea's face on the new dollar coin will enjoy learning more about her and her role in history.

Kathleen Odean

The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the northwest part of the American continent probably would not have ever been completed without the help of the young Shoshone woman Sacajawea. She and her sister, Otter Woman, were kidnapped from their tribe and kept captive by the Minetarees, a tribe that had been influenced in language and customs by its years of contact with French and English traders. Sacajawea picked up the ability to speak the whites' languages—a skill that stood her in good stead five years later when a French trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, won her and Otter Woman from their Minetaree captor. Charbonneau married the young Sacajawea, and they had a son. Soon after, Charbonneau was hired by Lewis and Clark to accompany their expedition in its next phase along the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean—and Charbonneau was invited to bring his family along. This was wonderful news to Sacajawea, whose great dream was to be united once again with her Shoshone family. Much has been written about Sacajawea's role in the expedition, how she and her child disarmed even the most hostile Indians and how her skill in languages, along with her ability to find food, kept them all going through the severe rigors of the long trip. The story in this book is told in alternative voices by Sacajawea and William Clark, the co-leader of the expedition, giving an added dimension to the tale and helping to clarify much of what happened along the way. Couched in Bruchac's elegant prose, this epic tale of courage and endurance is both a grand adventure story and an inspiration that is not to be missed. (Fiction. 12-14)

Kirkus Reviews