Book Review: The Bird-Woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Katherine Chandler
Rating: 3 stars
Review: While browsing some of the free books available for download, I came across this title and was intrigued not only by the subject, but by the author: it was a book that would not only fill the need for my book club's July topic (American History), but would also fill in a slot for another reading challenge I was working on (non-fiction written by women). It wasn't until I had downloaded it and opened it to read that I realized that it was an early-reader for children. This dampened my enthusiasm a little, but I was still interested based on a couple of factors. First, it was written near the turn of the century (1905 I think? 1908? I don't have it in front me but something like that), and the author was in San Francisco, which is home base for me. I was definitely curious about how well, or even if, the writing had withstood the test of time.
Unfortunately, it was really almost TOO simple to draw any conclusions about that; this is a very early reader and the structure definitely reflects that. Short, repetitive statements and very simplified storytelling occasionally called to mind the sound of stuttering voices sounding out each syllable carefully and backtracking when corrected quietly. Without knowing a lot about the subject matter going into it (other than the very basic info I vaguely remember from my own school days), it was hard for me to gauge or compare accuracy of the stories and facts with what we know a century later. If I were a parent, this might be a fun one to visit or re-visit with a young reader of my own, but as an adult, I didn't get much out of it. But it was short, and it was free, so no regrets!