Good Books about Lewis and Clark

Recently I was doing my own reading about Lewis and Clark, and since I was enjoying myself, I thought I would see if there was something out there that I could share with my children.

I was delighted at first to see how much material there was to choose from, but then my enthusiasm waned. The books I was perusing looked good -- the pictures and artwork were nice, the verbiage was age appropriate -- but the actual writing was awful. In fact they reminded me of the history books I used to read in Middle School that misled me to believe the I vehemently ' hated history'. Which, of course, wasn't true. I only thought that because the books were so darn boring. And if there is anything I don't want to do now, it is to give my own children the same impression... that “History is Boring”.

With this in mind, I am going to talk about suitable books for elementary school children. I've taken a look at three different authors and books; two of recent publication, and one over a century old. Any of which would be appropriate for a book report, but only one of which is likely to stimulate some interest in Lewis and Clark and the study of history in general.

The two recent books were written by Patricia Ryon Quiri and Christine Webster, and were both titled “The Lewis and Clark Expedition”.

In general, I would say that both authors basically added little value to what might have been garnered from an encyclopedia. Quiri in particular tended to focus on dates and numbers, which aren't even that interesting to me, an adult. When describing, for example, the dramatic chase where Lewis is nearly caught and killed by a bear, she writes: “The group often came across wild animals. A brown bear once chased Lewis for 80 yards (73m). Lewis finally ran into the river and the bear decided not to follow him.”

I'm not quite sure whether it was the author or the publisher that thought that the "exact" distance was of either significance or interest, but I'm fairly sure that the distance transversed was of no importance when compared to what would have happened to the expedition if Lewis' life had been extinguished by that hungry omnivore.

Yet that is the emphasis of Quiri's book -- measurements and dates. And while even I have to admit that some few dates probably ought to be included, does it do any child (or any one) any good to know that the party had their first taste of buffalo on the 23rd of August, and not the 27th? Of course not... as that's not what real history is about.

Now as to Christine Webster's book -- it is somewhat better. After a slow beginning it soon warms to its topic and bits of interesting narrative began to appear. While there is still not the level of drama I would have preferred, I did like that Ms. Webster --alone of the three authors reviewed-- followed through with a little information about what happened after the Expedition was officially over. She nicely handles poor Lewis' suicide, and she relates how Clark essentially adopted Sacajawea's children, Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) and his sister, Lisette (or Lizette), taking care of their education and trying to see that they had a chance of success in life.

Which brings me at last to my recommended choice. Though now over a century old, I have to say that Katherine Chandler's little book was far more entertaining than the others. And though meant for first and second graders' it kept my attention so well that I finished it alone, late one night, because it was too interesting to wait until the next day.

In her "The Bird-Woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades" Ms. Chandler not only includes vocabulary at the beginning of each chapter, but she includes engaging drawings and mild drama. All of which perhaps results from her having been a teacher of real live children.

In any case, her narrative definitely preserves a sense of wonder, and even now, months later, I am struck by some of the facts she related. Did you know, for example, that before they set out to return home that the expedition members sat and sewed hundreds of moccasins. Hundreds! Silly me, but it never occurred to me that they would go through so many shoes.

So in summary, I would say that “The Bird-Woman” is the book I would suggest you consider first if you are looking for a book on the Lewis and Clark Expedition for elementary school children. I thought it did the best job in making this interesting journey child-friendly.

[Anyone with suggestions for further reading, please feel free to leave a comment.]

Notes on Books:

Chandler's book: The version of "Bird-Woman" that we used was a free e-book downloaded from Archive.org. [Archive.org offers downloads in a variety of formats.] In addition I just discovered that it can be downloaded from GoogleBooks as a .pdf.

If that doesn't suit, you can try the link I've included for a printed version of the book which is available at Amazon. BUT I need to warn you that I have NOT seen what this product looks like, and I am somewhat concerned that it may not, in some way, be as good as the pdf we used, which included the pictures. Please leave me a note about what you find should you purchase it.

Quiri's book: To see sample pages from Quiri's book click here to go to it's Supplement page.

Webster's book: The Accelerated Reading designation for this book is 6.5 which means that it is generally suitable for children reading at the 5th month of 6th Grade level. (Supplement page coming...)

These books, of course, may be read to children of any age.

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Adults might want to read:


The Journals of Lewis and Clark

with foreward by Bernard DeVoto;
edited by Stephen Ambrose

For a list of easy readers about Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea click here