York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition Book

Title: York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part of the Great Expedition By Rhoda Blumberg

Bibliography:
Blumberg, Rhoda. (2004). York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part of the Great Expedition. New York, New York.: Harperscollins Publishers.

Annotation:
This biography tells the story of Clark's slave York who accompanied the Corps of Discovery on their quest to find the Northwest Passage. Although York was a slave and brought on the expedition against his will, he played a major part in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Native Americans were curious about him and that made negotiations easier, even possible in some cases. York's man power and dedication also helped propel the journey along. He is often not given credit for all that he did, but he is an American Hero.

Genre: Biography

Grade Level: 8.6

Readers who will like this book: Readers who like biographies, history, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, exploring, or books about African Americans will really enjoy this book.

Personal Response and Rating: I rate this book a three out of a five. It was a good book about an excellent topic but I expected it to be written better. The biography was forced to make a lot of (logical) assumptions and I found the writing to be a bit jarring at times which pulled me out of the story.

Text-Dependent Question:

What were several instances during the expedition when York was treated as someone more than a slave? What does this say about York's experience with the Corps of Discovery and how he felt after the expedition?

How did the author's layout of the book help contribute to your (the reader's) understanding of the book?

The author used a writing style that incorporated a lot of "must haves." Drawing on evidence from the text explain why the author did this. Find an example of one of the "must have" sentences. Do you think the sentence is an accurate reflection?