Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Presented as a journal kept by Seaman, Meriwether Lewis's dog, this first-person account provides a choppy overview of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The writing is weak ("Sacajawea is a mom now"), and the color illustrations have a static quality. The book contains a ribbon bookmark featuring a large cardboard image of Seaman and a recipe for the Native American food pemmican.

ALA Booklist (Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2001)

With text by Betsy and artwork by Giulio, the Maestros bring history to life in a new entry in the picture-book American Story series. The French and Indian Wars, called by several names during a 70-year period, were a struggle between the French and the Algonquian tribes on one hand and the English and the Iroquois tribes on the other. The French saw America as a vast resource for the lucrative fur trade; the English saw it as a place to send a troublesome populace and to build settlements. The indigenous groups allied themselves with the Europeans for a variety of reasons, including weaponry. The text is a model of clarity, balance, and nuance: European alliances, massacres on both sides, slavery, and double dealing are all noted, along with descriptions of strategy, tactics, and the conflicting needs of divergent groups. A wide variety of beautifully delineated pictures--maps, townscapes, seascapes, battlefields, and portraits--add to the spirited sweep of the text. A fine resource.

Kirkus Reviews

Partly filling the historical gap between their New Americans: Colonial Times, 1620-1689 (1998) and A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution (1987), the Maestros examine King William's War, Queen Anne's War, the War of Jenkins' Ear, and other half-forgotten conflicts usually lumped together as the French and Indian Wars. Concluding that these wars were fought for economic control of North America and paralleled the first stirrings of a sense of national unity, the authors trace the growth of trade routes and other lines of communication. They also pay close attention to the wars' consistently lamentable effects on the Native American groups allied with either the French or the British forces. Though much of the fighting and strategic maneuvering took place in what is now Canada, the Maestros take their most widely angled views of territories that became part of the United States. With plenty of precisely drafted battle scenes, street plans, portraits, maps, and landscapes, plus a spread of additional information on topics as diverse as colonial money and the Iroquois League, they bring a formative era in our country's history into sharp focus for young readers. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-In this richly illustrated title, the Maestros bring an important part of our country's history to life. Seventy-four years of events are chronicled in a running narrative that begins by explaining how four European nations fought over trade, borders, and religion, and competed for the North American continent. While Spain and the Netherlands withdrew almost immediately, England and France continued to fight for 70 more years in a series of confrontations. These battles are covered in the text, as are the relationships that these two countries had with the Native American tribes. Full-page, double-page, and spot-art illustrations in pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil flow across the pages and extend the text. All are captioned. Several colorful maps are also included. Endnotes provide additional information on a few individuals, the Iroquois League, and life during the Colonial period. This accessible book fills a gap for young history buffs and report writers.-Kathleen Simonetta, Indian Trails Public Library District, Wheeling, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.