Great Women of the Old West

June 1, 2001
Gr 3-5-This overview covers the years from Sacagawea's participation in the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the turn of the last century. Addressing the lives and contributions of American Indian, Hispanic, Caucasian, and black women, the focus remains for the most part on traditional roles-home, church, and family. For example, American Indian women are portrayed as doing planting and harvesting, herding animals, raising children, creating artwork, cooking, and watching battles "-from a safe distance." Their political clout in tribal life is never mentioned. The section on Caucasian women shifts from drudging west, trying to keep their clothes clean and their toddlers out from under wagon wheels and oxen's hooves, to introducing a number of independent figures who gained the freedom to become doctors, sharpshooters, and miners, among other traditionally male roles. Period reproductions and photographs enhance the attractively laid out text, which has wide borders and large print. Unfortunately, in the last two chapters, pictures of specific women appear a page or two before they are identified in the text. The list of important people (two American Indian and four Caucasian women) seems oddly selected. However, the lists of further reading, Web sites, and institutional resources are sound, as is the one-page index. The author's own Extraordinary Women of the American West (Children's, 1999), though aimed at a slightly older audience, is a better source of information-detailed and interesting, and not torqued to fit series requirements.-Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.