The Crossing

Great book!! Our children love it!!

The art work is superb, but there reall isn't too much to the story line. Too old for 4 years old, too young for 8 yr old

Jean Baptiste was tightly swaddled in a cradle pack as his mother Sacagawea looked across the landscape toward the Great Plains with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. There were many things for a babe to hear and see on the long journey to the West. He could hear the roar of the grizzlies, see the salmon as they broke the surface of the water, and catch the eye of the cougar as he stood screaming and hissing at them. "Red cedars brush the air. / Eagles float / in clouds and blue / of a never-ending, sun-drenched sky, / bleaching the cliffs white." The elk stood silently before five massive waterfalls as the men decided how to get around them.Getting around the falls was difficult, but they soon found themselves approaching Beaverhead Rock, a memory from Bia's own childhood. They were in the Shining Mountains where they found "gifts, beads and toys, and, best of all a new brother." There were more animals to be seen and more adventures for everyone. Jean Baptiste, still strapped to his mother's back, could feel the movement of a horse as they journeyed through snowy mountain passes. There was so much to experience, but would hunger and danger stop them? What else would they encounter on this long search for discovery from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean?This is a wonderful depiction of baby Jean Baptiste's journey across the Great Plains to the west coast. The baby, of course, belongs to Sacagwea, a Shoshoni woman who was on the quest for the west with Lewis and Clark. In this book there is no mention of Toussaint Charbonneau, his father nor what the word "bia'" (actually (dam)bia') stands for in Shoshoni society. This is an amazing book, one told from the vantage point of a baby, something I haven't seen presented in this age group. The story is an excellent one in that the homeschool or classroom student can explore right along with Jean Baptiste by looking at anything from the abundant animal life to the portage of the canoes over the falls. The artwork was simply stunning and the light cracked look gave it an aged appearance. In the back of the book is a brief, but more detailed discussion of this historic journey. This amazing book is one you might want to consider adding to your shelves!

This is a vibrantly illustrated book, absolutely stunning. I feel it does not perhaps do the journey justice as it glosses over what must have been a very challenging time for a wee one through all types of weather, needing diapering/elimination care, teething, and the like. I did not appreciate how the Shoshoni leader (the baby’s mother) was not portrayed as such but rather through the lens of the men (of the men standing at the beach with their guns while she was sitting in an awkward position on the beach is one such example). A typical male-dominated portrayal of the feat it was that the baby’s mother accomplished, saving the men’s lives/livelihoods.That being said, I admire with new eyes a mother who led a successful team while mothering 24/7.And it was not new or uncharted territory but rather well-traversed terrain, used and loved by people for thousands of years by people who have always been here, and still are here.But it was not at that time charted by the newcomers, of which the men were and thus charged with the task of charting.Without baby’s mother, whose name I’ve found is spelled many various ways, this long journey would likely had most not return.

I love this book so much! It's one of the best illustrated picture books for children I've seen. I teach Lewis and Clark in our public schools, so I'm always looking for great visual aids. This one is a winner!

The story of Lewis and Clark's trip across the country is told by a small baby carried by the team's guide, Sacagawea."Wind catches the sail,swing and woop!Over we go, Bia' and Ape' and me---Mother and Father and Babe---splash, shiver.Flit, flit,salmon sparkle in my dreams."A story told in bold painted illustrations and poetic text, with lots of onomatopoeia.

This stunning new picture book, written by Donna Jo Napoli and majestically illustrated by Jim Madsen, tells the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of its youngest participant, baby Jean Baptiste, son of Sacagawea. Strapped onto his mother's back in a cradle board, the baby comments on the various sights and sounds of the expedition. The narrative is written in free verse. Here is an example from the book's opening:"Rolled in rabbit hide/I am tucked snug/in a cradle pack/in the whipping cold/of new spring./Roar, roar! Grizzlies stand tall in my dreams."The vibrantly colored two page illustrations effectively capture the grandeur of the American wilderness that is all around the expedition's participants. Jean Baptiste observes eagles, cougars, grizzlies, salmon, elk, birds, and other wildlife that were abundant at the time, as the group makes its way to the Pacific and then back to their home.An author's note provides some historical context on the journey tiny Jean Baptiste and Sacagawea embarked upon from Fort Mandan, North Dakota to the Pacific and back again. While this book does not give young readers a complete picture of the Lewis and Clark expedition, it would make an excellent class read-aloud or supplement for home schoolers studying Lewis and Clark, allowing students to imagine the journey from an unusual point of view. The illustrations are also wonderfully evocative of another time and place in American history, a time when the frontier was vast and the country ripe for exploration.