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A juvenile history of the Lewis & Clark expedition
After securing the Louisiana Purchase from Francis, President Thomas Jefferson instructed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the Missouri River to find "the most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for purposes of commerce."The expedition, known as the time as the Corps of Discovery, is now known as the Lewis & Clark Expedition, although just the names "Lewis and Clark" is enough to indicate what you are talking about.

Andrew Santella's juvenile history of "Lewis and Clark" begins with short biographies of both men and divides the expedition into distinct stages: the trip up the Missouri River, the trek across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and the return trip home.The book is richly illustrated some of the journal entries made by the two explorers, historic paintings and ethics, and contemporary photographs of some of the regions they traveled on their 8,000 mile trek.One of the nice features of this book are the informative notes and sidebars on topics like the air gun Lewis took on the trip, the erratic spellings in their journals, and the first time a black slave voted in American History.

Santella, who has authored several volumes of the excellent Cornerstones of Freedom series, turns in another fine effort for this Watts Library book about exploration.Other titles in the series look at Francisco Coronado, Henry Hudson, Juan Ponce de Leon, Samuel de Champlain, and Sieur de la Salle. ... Read more

Book Description

A flavorful account to commemorate its bicentennial

In 1803 a young farmer named Reubin Field enlisted for a journey of enormous import. Commissioned by President Jefferson and headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, a "Corps of Discovery" was to make its way through dangerous terrain and harsh conditions to blaze a trail to the Pacific Ocean. Focusing on a lesser-known figure from the Corps, Judith Edwards has imagined what Reubin’s voice might have been like, and how he might have told his version of the long journey.

The folksy narrative provides an accessible and entertaining overview of the expedition, and Sally Wern Comport’s majestic pictures honor this grand moment in the story of America.
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A first-person, folksy narrative brings history live
In 1803 a young farmer Reubin Field enlisted for a journey headed by Lewis and Clark. Edwards focuses on his experiences, imagining what his voice might have been like and what his experiences would've been on the 2-year plus journey. The result is Judith Edwards' Great Exploration of Lewis & Clark, a first-person, folksy narrative brings history live with facts blended with rich observational insights. ... Read more

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Beginners guide to exploration
Explorer's News is a colorful and informative presentation of major explorers in world history.This would be a great read for any child interested in history and people.I am a teacher and have found this book a great source for my world history students.Stories are written in a news style format with pictures and maps that relate to the events described.The news stories are easy to read and accurate.Mr. Johnstone tells the stories of the Polynesians, Erikson, Columbus, Magellan, Peary and others in brief eyewitness accounts of their experiences.I wouls suggest the title to both young readers curious about their world and to older readers seeking a concise and interesting acount of exploration.

Beginners guide to exploration
Explorer's News is a colorful and informative presentation of major explorers in world history.This would be a great read for any child interested in history and people.I am a teacher and have found this book a great source for my world history students.Stories are written in a news style format with pictures and maps that relate to the events described.The news stories are easy to read and accurate.Mr. Johnstone tells the stories of the Polynesians, Erikson, Columbus, Magellan, Peary and others in brief eyewitness accounts of their experiences.I wouls suggest the title to both young readers curious about their world and to older readers seeking a concise and interesting acount of exploration. ... Read more

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For personal, school, and library audiobook collections
In Great Explorers, author and biographer David Angus presents the thrilling stories of Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Bartholomeu Diaz, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Captain Cook, Lewis and Clark, Stanley and Livingstone, and The Apollo Moon Mission. Very highly recommended for personal, school, and library audiobook collections, this Naxos Audiobook 2-CD compact edition is expertly narrated by Frances Jeater, Sam Dastor, and Kerry Shale, and has a running time of 2 hours, 36 minutes. ... Read more

Book Description

Here is Christopher Columbus in action! Color his most gorgeous portraits and & those of Balboa, Cortez, the Cabots and many more. Read about the adventures and derringdo of these great discoverers of our world. ... Read more

Book Description

When the Lewis and Clark expedition departed on its voyage of exploration in May of 1804, the region of North America west of the Mississippi River was a blank spot on the map. Lewis and Clark were to fill it in with rivers and mountains, Indian tribes, and animals new to European Americans. Today the West is a completely different place from what it was two hundred years ago. Every inch has been mapped, and much of its land has been covered by farms, ranches, cities, and towns. Award-winning author of more than a hundred nonfiction books for children, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and photographer William Muñoz capture the contrast between the American West then and now in this informative volume, aided by old prints, photographs, and paintings. ... Read more

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A solid introduction to the Lewis & Clark Expedition
The story of the Lewis and Clark expedition is the one great exploration of the American continent that was actually undertaken by Americans rather than by Europeans visiting the New World."The Lewis and Clark Trail Then and Now," with text by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and Photographs by William Munoz, compares the way things have changed along the route almost two hundred years later.When Lewis and Clark left St. Louis in May of 1804 the United States was a land without telephones, railroads, cars, electrical equipment or dozens of other modern conveniences we take for granted.The region of North American between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean was fill of rivers and mountains, native tribes and indigenous animals, all waiting to be "discovered."Today, this entire region has been mapped, and a lot of that uninhabited land is now covered by farms and ranches, towns and cities.Even the mighty Missouri and Columbia Rivers that Lewis and Clark followed have been damned.Still, there are wilderness areas, such as the Rocky Mountains, where what you would see today has changed little from the time Lewis and Clark first trekked through their landscapes.

However, overall the emphasis in this book is more on the "then," even though most of the pictures are of the "now."There is a reproduction of an 1802 map showing the great area of the unexplored American West and some early 19th-century paintings, but the photographs are of contemporary vistas and shots of some of the equipment taken on the expedition.The book does not make an attempt to match up old paintings with new photographs, but rather tries to combine them to give a sense of the places visited and the peoples met along the way.Ultimately, the book fills in the spaces between that unfinished map at the start of the book and the completed map made by Clark that appears at the end.Each chapter is essentially a two-page spread on chronologically arranged topics from Members of the Expedition and Life on the River to Finding the Shoshone and Descending the Might Columbia.The net effect is a concise look at the history making expedition and how it fulfilled President Thomas Jefferson's mandate.Young students assigned to research the topic or simply interested in this part of American history will find "The Lewis and Clark Trail: Now and Then" provides a solid look at the subject. ... Read more

Book Description

Among the tens of thousands of pioneers who left home in covered wagons in the 1800s, headed for the West in hopes of fertile land, gold, or escape from religious or racial persecution, some forty thousand were children. Though the hardships and dangers of the trail were many, these children also witnessed the great and wild beauty of the untouched West and became an integral part of U.S. history. In this unique approach to the history of the wagon trail and western expansion, here are the moving stories of these young pioneers, told in their own words through letters home, diaries, and memoirs. Ginger Wadsworth"s clear and well-organized presentation is comprehensive, accessible, and richly illustrated with detailed maps and more than ninety archival photos and prints of life on the trail. Endnotes, bibliography, index. ... Read more

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Best Book on the Oregon Trail
Any researcher, any writer, any educator, any student, any person interested in the Oregon Trail has to read this book. It is full of letters, lists, journal entries that are not only informative and intersting but also entertaining. ... Read more

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This is so cool!
I love this product! It taught me so much about Pirates, and it helped me get an A on a report in school! It showed me that learning doesn't have to be boring, and my little brother who can't read yet liked me to show him and teach him about Pirates, too! ... Read more

Book Description

From Columbus's voyage in 1492 to the publication of the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, a former slave, in 1789, Jill Lepore, winner of the distinguished Bancroft Prize for history, brings to life in exciting, first-person detail some of the earliest events in American history in Encounters in the New World.Providing fascinating commentary along the way, Lepore seamlessly links together primary sources that illustrate the powerful clash of cultures in the Americas. Through emotional eyewitness accounts -- memoirs, petitions, diaries, captivity narratives, private correspondence -- formal documents, official reports, and journalistic reportage, dramatic stories of the New World are revealed, including: * A Jesuit priest's chronicle of life among his Iroquois captors * Aztec records of forbidding omens he earliest events in American * John Smith's account of cannibalism among the British residents of Jamestown * Memoirs by members of Cortes's expedition * Reminiscences of an escaped slaveA special 16-page color cartographic section, including maps from both Europe and North America, provides a fascinating look at how the maps' creators saw themselves and the world around them. ... Read more

Book Description

James Rumford, himself a world traveler, has retold Ibn Battuta"s story in words and pictures, adding the element of ancient Arab maps—maps as colorful and evocative as a Persian miniature, as intricate and mysterious as a tiled Moroccan wall. Into this arabesque of pictures and maps is woven the story not just of a traveler in a world long gone but of a man on his journey through life. ... Read more

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I was duped
Warning - this is NOT the book written by Ibn Batuta himself. This is a book of illustrations based on the traveller. Yes they are very beautiful illustrations but for the text you have to get
the Ibn Batuta book written by Ibn Batuta. I learned this the hard way.

What you don't know
What you, as the reader of this and all Jim's books, don't know is that Mr. Rumford has lived, studied and worked in many of the places where his stories take place. He is a linguist, an historian, and an artist. So while this tale and his other stories may seem fictional, the element of realism is very strong. He not only reads and speaks these languages, he has studied how they are written--and seeing the embelishments in this story, you wonder. These symbols are real and accurate, produced by a true Renaissance man.

Ibn Battuta, Traveler of His Age.....
"In the days when the earth was flat and Jerusalem was the center of the world, there was a boy named Ibn Battuta." So begins Traveling Man, the eloquent story of a fourteenth century, Moroccan man's 75,000 mile, worldwide expedition. Heading first to Egypt, then on to Jerusalem, and Arabia to Mecca. He then traveled across the steppes of Asia to India, the Maldives, and on to China, thought at the time to be the end of the world, before finally, after 29 years, returning home again. Once home, Ibn Battuta told a court scribe about his journey and many adventures, and this written record is the basis for James Rumford's remarkable and mesmerizing story. His lyrical and engaging text is full of imagery, mystery, and magic, and complemented with elegant, creative, and vivid, artwork, done in hues of gold, red and blues. Together word and art transports the reader to a long ago place and time, on an amazing and fantastic journey. A glossary, afterword, and detailed map at the end, provides additional information to further enlighten and enhance the experience. Perfect for youngsters 8-12, Traveling Man is an evocative masterpiece that shouldn't be missed. As Ibn Battuta wrote..."Traveling - it offers you a hundred roads to adventure, and gives your heart wings!" ... Read more

Book Description

Packed with detailed illustrations, side by side with amusing figures, each book in the All in a Day's Work series will engage young readers like never before. Readers will gain insight into ancient cultures through the eyes of the people who lived and worked in them - a dozen professionals from each culture, ranging from civic leaders, emperors, and pharaohs, to boatmen, soldiers, soothsayers, and charioteers. Each book is meticulously researched with all drawings checked for historical accuracy - thus ensuring that these truly unique books are as educational as they are entertaining.

An insider's look at the jobs people did in the Viking world with imaginary and actual, famous examples interspersed. The book describes the conditions, training, pay, and prospects for each job.

You could become an explorer or merchant and see the world or build the mighty Viking Longships!

Book Description

Witness Columbus's thrilling voyages of exploration. Vivid storytelling brings the past to life. Exciting eyewitness accounts make you feel like part of the action. Stunning photographs, annotated illustrations, and exploded views help you piece together the story. A gatefold page opens out to show a panoramic view of the scene. ... Read more

Book Description

This Level 3 book is perfect for children who can read alone.

In Terror on the Amazon, the search for the mythical riches of El Dorado in Peru in 1541 by the Spanish conqueror Gonzalo Pizarro and his men. The story contrasts the horrors of the conquistadors with the Indians' knowledge of their rainforest environment. The 48-page Level 3 books, designed for children who can read on their own, contain more complex sentence structure and more detail. Young readers will devour these kid-friendly titles, which cover high-interest topics such as sharks, and the Bermuda Triangle, as well as classics like Aladdin. Information boxes highlight historical references, trivia, pronunciation, and other facts about words and names mentioned. Averaging 2,400 to 2,800 words, these books offer a 50/50 picture-to-text ratio.The Dorling Kindersley Readers combine an enticing visual layout with high-interest, easy-to-read stories to captivate and delight young bookworms who are just getting started. Written by leading children's authors and compiled in consultation with literacy experts, these engaging books build reader confidence along with a lifelong appreciation for nonfiction, classic stories, and biographies. There is a DK Reader to interest every child at every level, from preschool to grade 4. ... Read more

Book Description

Uncharted Territory

In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from the French for $15,000,000. The purchase made President Jefferson's dream of extending the U.S. west of the Mississippi River come true.

Now the much larger United States had difficult questions to answer: How would Louisiana be governed? How would it be divided into states? Would those states be free states or slave states? What would happen to the Native Americans? It would take over one hundred years, a war over slavery, and the creation of thirteen new states before these questions could be answered. ... Read more

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A great way for kids to learn aboutAmerican History!
This wonderful, 84 page chapter book is an excellent way to get American history into your children. It's easy to read, easy to understand, and your children will find it entertaining as well as informative. They will learn about Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Livingston, James Monroe,Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacagawea,andtheir respective roles in purchasing and exploring the Louisiana Purchase.Black and white illustrations are included throughout the book to help them visualize the events.It's so good, you'll want to read it yourself and learn what you didn't learn in school! I recommend using it for family reading times for K-6th grade. ... Read more

Book Description

In search of large fortunes, thousands of hopeful prospectors crowdedthe Klondike region and California.The Gold Rush investigates one of the most thrillingand desperate times in North American history.Learn about the prospector's tools, goldrush towns, and the exhilaration of hitting "pay dirt!" ... Read more

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Great book
A very nice overview of the subject matter. I am intrigued by this period in history, and this book help clarify a lot of my questions. ... Read more

Book Description

Uses the Lewis and Clark expedition as a reference to examine the history and everyday life of the United States from 1801-1850, including the War of 1812, the growth of industrialization, the expansion westward, and the California Gold Rush. ... Read more