Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Joseph Bruchac (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-Joseph Bruchac's fascinating story (Harcourt, 2000) of the life of the woman who was pivotal to the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition is an outstanding example of historical fiction told from mutliple perspectives. The alternating voices of Sacajawea and Captain William Clark (Nicolle Littrell and Michal Rafkin), as well as excerpts from Clark's journals, illustrate the tremendous hardships faced by the Corps of Discovery along with the exhiliration of exploring new territory and encountering other cultures. In its well-crafted written format, readers can easily follow the narrative flow. The recorded version suffers from several defects that detract significantly from the pleasure of listening to it. The most noticeable is that Littrell's cadences and voice inflection have a distinctly sing-song quality that, while meant to convey the fact that English was a second language for Sacajawea, merely becomes annoying to the ear because they are so pronounced. In addition, the Native American stories (often featuring Coyote, the Trickster) at the beginning of many of the book's chapters are difficult to distinguish from the main text.
Cindy Lombardo, Orrville Public Library, OH
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From AudioFile

The true beauty of this tape lies in the fact that these two voices resonate across time and cultures. Sacajawea's narrative is always prefaced by metaphorical native tales; Captain Clark's story follows excerpts from Meriwether Lewis's text of the ex-pedition. The readings of these cultural brackets are masterful, for we are made fully aware of the differences between oral recitation, reading text, and storytelling. Michael Rafkin eloquently distinguishes between the two Virginian explorers. Nicole Littrell gives us an apt storyteller and a reflective woman, never a stereotyped native voice. Hissing "s's" disrupt the flow but not the impact of this highly entertaining family narrative. P.R. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Audio CD: 5 pages
• Publisher: Audio Bookshelf; Unabridged edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188333294X
• ISBN-13: 978-1883332945
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,398,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book, December 9, 2008

By 

D. Kirk - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Audio CD)

All of my family (young and old) have enjoyed this book. It is a good story and beautifully read. Would make a great gift.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, April 28, 2008

By 

J. Overstreet (WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Audio CD)

My family recently went on a little road trip. We played this audiobook in the van during our drive. My children, aged 13-5, loved the book. The two readers did a fabulous job and kept all of us entertained. It was very nice having a female reader reading Sacajawea's part and a male reader reading William Clark's part. This book had spurred family conversations about the William and Clark's expedition. It also motivated my two older children to check out more material about Lewis, Clark and Sacajawea from our library. I would highly recommend this audio book to anyone, young or old.