Customer Reviews

My Name Is York

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A beautifully illustrated book and compelling story but theaccount is told too quickly, too many events mentioned but none in anydepth. The language is pretentious and gets in the way of the story. I use the book in the elementary school library where I work, to talk about creative nonfiction, but I have to stop contstantly to fill in details which the book leaves out and I change the words as I read. The actual events are so powerful - a shame the book doesn't convey this.

Although the style of writing was good in this book, there were some glaring innaccuracies. For example, it states that the Lewis and Clark Expedition discovered a water passage to the Pacific. Actually, their greatest disappointment was that they were not able to cross the continent by water because of the mountain ranges they had to cross. Also, York did not pull Clark out of the ravine to save his life during a flash flood. By the time York reached Clark and his party, they were already safely out of the ravine. There were several smaller mistakes that might have been corrected with more research.

This is a wonderful sorce of information with a powerful storyline in the content area of American History. It deals with issues of slavery and longing to be free. An African- American slave by the name of York feels loyal to his master yet desires a life of his own. As a classroom teacher this is a for sure book choice for my classroom in teaching history to students. I highly recommend it to others.

Entertainment and education join hands in the story of a black slave who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition,

My Name Is York by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk is superbly illustrated with pastels by Bill Faransworth

The paitings are beautiful in this book and the story is very moving. I also wondered why the author chose to portray inaccuracies in the book. I'm sure she knew the story of Lewis and Clark and decided to tell the story which highlighted her theme. I don't think York's desire to be free was ever clearly stated but I don't know that for sure.