A young Indian woman, accompanied by her infant and her cruel husband, experiences joy and heartbreak when she joins the Lewis and Clark expedition seeking a way to the Pacific.
Scott O’Dell (1898–1989), one of the most respected authors of historical fiction, received the Newbery Medal, three Newbery Honor Medals, and the Hans Christian Andersen Author Medal, the highest international recognition for a body of work by an author of books for young readers. Some of his many books include The Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Road to Damietta, Sing Down the Moon, and The Black Pearl.
Once again O'Dell turns to the Native American for his subject, and in this novel he brings to life the mysterious Shoshone girl Sacagawea, interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark. Told from Sacagawea's point of view ,this is an honest, unsparing account of Indian life and the approaching whites. From the beginning, Sacagawea is calm and practical but fiercely independent; these attributes enable her to survive the succession of traumas that will prepare her for Lewis and Clark. Forced into marriage with a French trader, she is then hired with her husband by Lewis and Clark for her knowledge of the Shoshone language and lands. Sacagawea's narration of their trek often becomes unbearably agonizing as both she and her infant son are nearly killed several times. But her journey to the great sea is not only physical. It is a spiritual journey as well, as she matures in wisdom and in her love for William Clark. Finally, having been offered the white world and Clark's love, she turns away, back to her Shoshone life. This is as quiet and intriguing a re-creation as Sacagawea herself. (12-up) Copyright 1986 Cahners Business Information.
Gr 6 Up Those familiar with what is known of Sacagawea from mentions of her in the journals of Lewis and Clark may be troubled by O'Dell's liberal fictionalizing of the known incidents in which she figured. But translating brief, expository statements into narrative scenes and dialogue necessarily requires invention of conversations, probable motives and likely actionsand O'Dell uses all of these to move this novel along. His account centers on the period of Bird Woman's involvement with the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is a suspenseful, well-paced retelling of this remarkable, true-life adventure from 1804 to 1806. Those who wish to read other versions of this story might try Winged Moccasins (Messner, 1954; o.p.) by Frances Joyce Farnsworthanother fictionalized accountor Neta Lohnes Frazier's Sacajawea, The Girl Nobody Knows (McKay, 1967; o.p.)more expository, with citation of evidence for the possibility that Sacagawea lived until 1884 and died among her people on the Shoshone reservation in Wyoming. George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield Copyright 1986 Cahners Business Information.
