The Trail of Tears (We the People (Compass Point Books Hardcover)) [Library Binding]

Michael Burgan (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: We the People (Compass Point Books Hardcover)

Describes why the Cherokee Native Americans were forced from their native lands and the journey they experienced to the Indian Territory established by the U.S. government in Oklahoma.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Well laid out and attractively formatted with a large, clear typeface and ample period reproductions and photographs, this introductory work gives a concise, blow-by-blow account of the events leading up to the Cherokee Removal. Beginning with an overview of early Cherokee contact with whites, the author intensifies the focus through a series of broken treaties beginning with the inception of the United States as a nation and continuing unabated through the Removal of 1838. The brief text makes the full impact of the injustice amply clear without losing objectivity. Although the glossary and "Did You Know?" sections are too brief to be useful, the appended chronology, list of important people, source list (books, Web sites, places to visit), and index are all added pluses. Less detailed than David K. Fremon's The Trail of Tears (New Discovery, 1994; o.p.) or R. Conrad Stein's book of the same title (Children's, 1993), this introduction is well suited to the informational needs of younger students.

Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Michael Burgan is a Capstone Press author.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 48 pages
• Publisher: We the People (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756501016
• ISBN-13: 978-0756501013
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The painful story of the Trail of Tears for younger readers, October 21, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Trail of Tears (We the People (Compass Point Books Hardcover)) (Library Binding)

Michael Burgan's look at "The Trail of Tears" for the We the People series begins by bluntly confronting young readers with the cold historic fact that in 1838 the U.S. government forced the Cherokee nation from their homes and marched them 800 miles to the Indian Territory that would eventually become Oklahoma. In their own language the Cherokee who survived the march called their route "the trail where they cried," which is known today as the "Trail of Tears."

Before the march the Cherokee lands included Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and parts of Virginia, Alabama, and Kentucky. Burgan details how the Cherokee nation had developed a level of "civilization" that each the white settlers of the times would have to appreciate before telling the story of how contact between the Cherokee and the European settlers slowly worked against the Native Americans, beginning with the introduction of small pox and ending with Andrew Jackson's insistence that the Indians were "savages" and that moving them would be for their own good.

Even if young readers do not appreciate the ways in which such thoughts and actions resonate through history in terms of events such as the Bataan Death March or the Holocaust, I have to believe they will have a clear sense of how the "Trail of Tears" represents a gross injustice. Burgan sets up this dark chapter in American history by putting the Cherokee civilization in a bright light before detailing the circumstances of the march that saw maybe as many as 4,000 Cherokees die before they reached Oklahoma.

The back of this slim but informative volume includes a Glossary, interesting Did You Know? information, a timeline of Important Dates, a list of Important People, places to go if you Want to Know More?, and an index. "The Trial of Tears" is illustrated with historic drawings, paintings, etchings, and early photographs, most of which are on point for the information provided on each page. Other volumes in the We the People series will also introduce younger readers to key events in U.S. history from the Jamestown Colony and the Boston Tea Party to the Underground Railroad and the Santa Fe Trail.