How We Crossed the West

The adventure and thrill of the Lewis & Clark Expedition is brought to life here in a story that both children and adults could appreciate. In beautiful and carefully rendered folk-style illustrations, and with descriptive text from the actual journals of the participants, the book has the appearance of something that almost could have been written in the early 1800's, when the expedition occurred. Rosalyn Schanzer's personal interest in the subject, especially the journals and the Indian tribes, seems to bring out the best in the storytelling, which primarily illustrates the first 1 1/2 years of the Corps of Discovery's journey to the Pacific Ocean. The story is accessible and easily understood, yet the attention to detail should satisfy those trying to learn, and even researchers in this important chapter in early American History.

Set in 1804, How We Crossed The West by Rosalyn Schanzer is the true story of the incredibly adventurous Lewis & Clark expedition exploring westward from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (May 1804 to November 1805). Superbly presented in an exciting picturebook format for young readers, the "reader friendly" text is taken from the original journals of the explorers themselves, though slightly edited for clarity. The wealth of illustrations are warm, colorful acrylic/colored pencil designs that bring a great journey through early America vividly to life. As educational as it is entertaining, How We Crossed The West is a superbly presented history and very highly recommended for school and community library collections.

This book is an excellent example of a primary source of information. I originally bought the book because I believed it would be a good resource for teaching about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but after I got it and realized the text was created from journal entries made by Lewis, Clark and others, I was truly excited to be teaching from this book. There is just enough text per page so as not to be overwhelming to elementary students and the illustrations are gorgeous.

My son (4th grade)recently did a report on William Clark. He used several resources but kept coming back to this one. The day after he completed his project I sat down to read the book myself - what a treat! I think the information is so interesting - much of it taken from the actual journals of Lewis, Clark and the Corp of Explorers! The illustrations are a great compliment to the story being retold! Because the copy he was using was from the public library I am ordering one for us to keep. I look forward to finding more books by Schanzer - I hope all of her books are as well written and illustrated!

The book about Lewis and Clark's journey written and illustrated by Roz Schanzer is terrific. The children that I teach at Schiel Primary School love not only hearing the story, but also love the fabulous illustrations. Roz Schanzer is truly a gifted author and illustrator. I hope to see more work from her in the future.