The Captain's DogHarcourt 1999
The story of Lewis and Clark is a fascinating one, but it's made even more fascinating in this book because it's told from the perspective of Captain Lewis' dog, Seaman. Seaman tells his story of the Corps of Discovery while Captain Lewis' journal is being read by firelight. The book is set up so that a journal entry is read, then Seaman tells his memory of the event. It took a while to get used to the format but once I did, I really enjoyed myself. The events that Seaman talks about, however, or short and sweet, sparing in details. But it was written that way on purpose, to get the reader to want to learn more about the Corps of Discovery. This book is a great start for anyone interested in the adventures that Lewis and Clark had.
WARNING: There is one disturbing scene with the starving Shoshone indians who are so hungry that they eat the raw guts from a deer. Naturally, there are some hardhips described, like sicknesses and physical ailments, even some killing, that aren't super pleasant, but really aren't that bad.
Personal opinionLike I said, it took a while to get used to the format of the book, but once I did, I liked it. It was like reading a compilation of a bunch of short stories so it was really easy to pick up, read a few stories, then put it down again. The stories are kind of like teasers that make you want to go research to Corps of Discovery and find out more. It's a great book to get young readers involved in their country's history.
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