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A review by mnboyer
The Crossing by Donna Jo Napoli
3.0
I always have a hard time rating children's books, but my task is especially more complicated when those books deal with American Indian peoples. In this case, if you're rating this book entirely on the gorgeous illustrations then a 5-star review would be in order. If you're rating this book entirely on the dialog, then I think a 4-star rating would be in order. Where my rating of this book becomes complicated is in its depiction of American Indian peoples and, unfortunately, the questions the story leaves open-ended.
Yes, this is a children's book, so perhaps it is not the best place to discuss whether or not Sacagawea wanted to be a participant in the Lewis and Clark expedition. It may not be the place to delve into whether or not Sacagawea wanted to wed Toussaint Charbonneau (based on the fact she was sold to Charbonneau, I'd say not -- there's some significant discussion about this elsewhere). I mean, we're still arguing about how to spell Sacagawea's name, after all. So as you can imagine, the children's book doesn't delve into a lot of the more complex issues of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It even gets to a point where they say that Charbonneau and Sacagawea "adopt" a sibling for Jean-Baptiste (who is relaying the story to us). Yeah, they really just skim over this... which is problematic for me because it is likely that Charbonneau purchased this child just as he had purchased Sacagawea.
So, while this book is offering a new perspective, and while I do appreciate that authors in the children's literature realm are working to include American Indian peoples and stories in the genre... there are still problems with these stories. This one has great illustrations, the story itself is interesting, but it still skims over a lot of problematic representations of American Indian peoples.
Yes, this is a children's book, so perhaps it is not the best place to discuss whether or not Sacagawea wanted to be a participant in the Lewis and Clark expedition. It may not be the place to delve into whether or not Sacagawea wanted to wed Toussaint Charbonneau (based on the fact she was sold to Charbonneau, I'd say not -- there's some significant discussion about this elsewhere). I mean, we're still arguing about how to spell Sacagawea's name, after all. So as you can imagine, the children's book doesn't delve into a lot of the more complex issues of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It even gets to a point where they say that Charbonneau and Sacagawea "adopt" a sibling for Jean-Baptiste (who is relaying the story to us). Yeah, they really just skim over this... which is problematic for me because it is likely that Charbonneau purchased this child just as he had purchased Sacagawea.
So, while this book is offering a new perspective, and while I do appreciate that authors in the children's literature realm are working to include American Indian peoples and stories in the genre... there are still problems with these stories. This one has great illustrations, the story itself is interesting, but it still skims over a lot of problematic representations of American Indian peoples.