Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O'Dell

From the Publisher

A young Indian woman, accompanied by her infant and her cruel husband, experiences joy and heartbreak when she joins the Lewis and Clark expedition seeking a way to the Pacific.

Publishers Weekly

Once again O'Dell turns to the Native American for his subject, and in this novel he brings to life the mysterious Shoshone girl Sacagawea, interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark. Told from Sacagawea's point of view ,this is an honest, unsparing account of Indian life and the approaching whites. From the beginning, Sacagawea is calm and practical but fiercely independent; these attributes enable her to survive the succession of traumas that will prepare her for Lewis and Clark. Forced into marriage with a French trader, she is then hired with her husband by Lewis and Clark for her knowledge of the Shoshone language and lands. Sacagawea's narration of their trek often becomes unbearably agonizing as both she and her infant son are nearly killed several times. But her journey to the great sea is not only physical. It is a spiritual journey as well, as she matures in wisdom and in her love for William Clark. Finally, having been offered the white world and Clark's love, she turns away, back to her Shoshone life. This is as quiet and intriguing a re-creation as Sacagawea herself. (12-up)

Children's Literature

Readers get to meet Sacagawea, the Shoshone Indian guide, who with her cruel husband and infant joins the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way she is briefly reunited with her brother, who helps the explorers with the provisions for their journey. Throughout, Sacagawea rises above the cruelty and humiliation at the hands of her husband and earns the respect of other members of the expedition. A fast paced and believable novel. Recipient of the Scott O'Dell Award.

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up Those familiar with what is known of Sacagawea from mentions of her in the journals of Lewis and Clark may be troubled by O'Dell's liberal fictionalizing of the known incidents in which she figured. But translating brief, expository statements into narrative scenes and dialogue necessarily requires invention of conversations, probable motives and likely actionsand O'Dell uses all of these to move this novel along. His account centers on the period of Bird Woman's involvement with the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is a suspenseful, well-paced retelling of this remarkable, true-life adventure from 1804 to 1806. Those who wish to read other versions of this story might try Winged Moccasins (Messner, 1954; o.p.) by Frances Joyce Farnsworthanother fictionalized accountor Neta Lohnes Frazier's Sacajawea, The Girl Nobody Knows (McKay, 1967; o.p.)more expository, with citation of evidence for the possibility that Sacagawea lived until 1884 and died among her people on the Shoshone reservation in Wyoming. George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield

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Product Details

• ISBN: 0618966420
  
• ISBN-13: 9780618966424
• Format: Paperback, 208pp
• Publisher: Graphia Books
• Pub. Date: May 2008
• Edition Description: Reissue
• Sales Rank: 249,686
• Age Range: Young Adult