Customer Reviews

Klondike Gold

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I happened across this book in a local branch of the Taipei, Taiwan Public Library of all places. The pictures are wonderful. The story is sure to capture children's imaginations (I just skimmed it, because my friend was just showing me the children's section of the library). But, given my last name, one thing stood out: that the last name of the generally-attributed discoverer of the Klondike gold rush is misspelled as something like "Cormack" -- i.e., with an O. In NO other source about George Washington CARMACK have I seen his name spelled in any other way than Carmack. And that includes newspapers of the time, official records of the era, official collections at libraries and other locations. I mean, heck, there is even a town in Alaska named Carmacks. So this is one bit of bad research or poor proofreading or flagrant misspelling.

Yeah, this isn't a thorough review, but given my own last name, this mistake stuck out.

An interesting point that the author mentions is that the location in the Yukon where the gold was discovered was at the time in a "grey area" as to whether it was part of Canada or Alaska (USA).

The Klondike gold rush was hazardous, expensive, and frustrating. This book is a fantastic way to get this information into your child. It is a fiction book for older children, the story of two friends who get swept up in gold fever and head out to the Yukon to get rich.

Here's how the illustrations work in this book - each double page is separated into three horizontal panels. The center panel is the text. The top (larger panel) is an action illustration of the text. The bottom illustration is context and background information, with captions and explanations. I've never seen this style before - I really like it. My boys LOVE it.

Great book. Offers a few books for further reading. Great maps.

Excellent vocabulary words: dismal, fretful, swarming, enthusiasm, ferried, disasters, abandoned, despairing, gallant...

Don't miss this one.