Who Was Sacagawea?

June 1, 2002
Gr 3-5-This accessible, accurate biography provides brief contextual information about the tribes in which Sacagawea lived, from her own people, the Shoshone, to her captors, the Minnetaree and Mandan. Since almost all that is known about her is from the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, this work necessarily focuses on that event and her part in it. Unfortunately, the black-and-white illustrations are dreadful. The cover borders on caricature and does nothing to invite interest or non-prejudicial awareness. The sketches of Lewis and Clark within the text are equally bad. Only those that detail specific material, such as a Shoshone tipi, Mandan lodge, or travois pass muster as good, informative, and text-enhancing. Another problem with the book is the lack of source information. David A. Adler's A Picture Book of Sacagawea (Holiday, 2000) is for younger students and Judith St. George's Sacagawea (Putnam, 1997), for older readers. Wait for a better choice to fill the gap.-Nancy Collins-Warner, Neill Public Library, Pullman, WA

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2002
The fast-paced biographies in this series do a good job of revealing the personalities and significant achievements of their subjects. Plentiful black-and-white illustrations and simple prose make the books particularly appealing to reluctant readers, and the brief sidebars never overwhelm the main texts. Each volume has two timelines--one for the subjects life, the other listing concurrent world events. [Review covers these titles: "Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Ben Franklin?, Who Was Sacagawea?, Who Was Annie Oakley?". ]

(Copyright 2002 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)