Girl of the Shining Mountains: Sacagawea's Story [Hardcover]

Connie Roop (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

Sacagawea describes how, at the age of sixteen, she becomes part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and serves as their interpreter and guide, surviving many dangerous adventures on their trek through the wilderness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The authors of Off the Map: The Journals of Lewis and Clark return to the story of those explorers' famous expedition, this time imagining the point of view of Sacagawea, Lewis and Clark's Shoshoni guide. Sacagawea is kidnapped by a neighboring tribe at age 11, then married off to a white trader. Shortly after the birth of her first son, Pomp, 15-year-old Sacagawea and her translator husband join the captains and their crew on their long, arduous journey west. Sacagawea secretly plans to abandon the party once she reaches her native village, but after spending months weathering hardships--illnesses, near drownings, attacks by grizzly bears, plagues of mosquitoes--her loyalties gradually shift. Sacagawea's detailed observations of nature ("I truly loved these tall white birds with their black wing tips. Their calls echoed over the river like the distant whooping of hunters jubilant after a successful hunt") and her practice of survival skills offset a certain patness in the diction ("My heart soared like the eagle") and provide insight into the discoveries and tribulations of both settlers and Native Americans. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-How would Sacagawea recount the story of her life to her son Pomp, who was just a baby when they crossed the uncharted West with Lewis and Clark? As this novel opens, the boy is six, traveling with his parents on a flatboat to St. Louis for a reunion with William Clark, who will oversee Pomp's formal education. The familiar passing landscape prompts Sacagawea to weave her story for her inquisitive son, who learns that his mother's journey was the culmination of an already extraordinary life. Sacagawea tells of being kidnapped at age 11 by hostile Hidatsa, married at age 13 to a man who won her as a gambling prize, and introduced to Lewis and Clark at age 16, taking an unwitting step into history as their interpreter and guide. Her eyewitness account of the journey details all its legendary hardships and triumphs, and while those events still make for exciting reading, this novel is most memorable for the flesh-and-blood Shoshoni woman who emerges from its pages. Sacagawea is revealed as a complex personality: a protective mother, a skilled navigator, and a brave negotiator who often saves the expedition from disaster. Her unique insight energizes this story and lifts it beyond mere adventure. It will have tremendous appeal for readers perhaps too young for Scott O'Dell's Streams to the River, River to the Sea (Houghton, 1986), another superb novel featuring a first-person narrative by Sacagawea.
William McLoughlin, Brookside School, Worthington, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (January 1, 1900)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786804920
• ISBN-13: 978-0786804924
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,737,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honoring Sacajawea, for young readers, July 5, 2000

By 

"litlover" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girl of the Shining Mountains: Sacagawea's Story (Hardcover)

I was looking for a good book about Sacajawea to give my grandchildren, since I've been dispensing the new gold dollars with her image to them for birthdays. This is written in the first person, as if the famous Indian woman is telling a story to her son, "Pomp." She was kidnapped from her Shoshoni tribe at a young age, then won in a gambling game by a French trader. The trader Charbonneau was hired by Lewis and Clark as an interpreter for their great expedition in the Louisiana Territory. Called Janey by the white men, the teenager Sacajawea proves very valuable to the party, and is able to lead them to her people in the West. The story is filled with small details about life on the trail:the hardship of traveling in a canoe,hunting bears,eating unusual foods. The two nine year olds to whom I gave this book enjoyed it very much as it moved along well, with times of suspense (would Sacajawea see her people again?)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prettty Good Book, April 4, 2004

By 

"viola_stands_for_violet" (Somewhere near San Fransico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girl of the Shining Mountains: Sacagawea's Story (Hardcover)

I like this book a lot because it has some very good details about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Though, I feel that Captain Lewis was mentioned approximately 1 time. I like this book, but I've read better books.
-Violet L. Smith