Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Lewis and Clark Expedition...


The Lewis & Clark Expedition by Richard L. Neuberger is a Landmark book originally copyrighted in 1951, recommended and reprinted by Sonlight.  The story is high adventure and easy to read, covering the expedition from start to finish and hitting a few highlights in between.  I did feel it was a little choppy as sometimes each chapter was a new story, but overall, we enjoyed the book.

We read other Lewis and Clark books at the same time and on a couple of occasions, facts came into question when compared.  One area of contention was whether or not a compass was lost when the boat overturned.  Some books give Sacajawea credit for saving the compass, one book even mentioned the compass being on display today at the Smithsonian historical museum, however, Neuberger's book stated the only compass on the expedition was lost forever.  These types of discrepancies were minor annoyances to the kids and I. 

In general, I think Neuberger's is a good overview of the expedition, particularly for younger children, knowing that you'll be covering this topic again in the future.  However, I would caution against using it as an exclusive resource.

On a positive note, the last two chapters of Neuberger's book gave some follow-up to the expedition that other resources didn't.  Specifically, the welcome received upon their return, as well as some of the main character's lives after the expedition.  We found the speculation surrounding Lewis' death somewhat fascinating and ended up doing further research.

You can read more about the other books we used for our Lewis and Clark study through Beautiful Feet by clicking here.  

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