This July, the Summer Reading Program is called Adventure Begins at Your Library. One of the greatest adventures in American life started in 1803 and lasted through 1806. Come along on a great journey—and it’s not fiction, it’s fact!     

There are three children’s books which I like, about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, in the Pine Bush Area Public Library.  Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog’s Tale is a chapter book by Laurie Myers.  It is told from the point of view of Seaman, the Newfoundland dog that belonged to Captain Meriwether Lewis.  Lewis, and his friend William Clark, were sent with a company of men to map as much of the Louisiana Purchase as they could, and to find a river route to the Pacific Ocean.  President Thomas Jefferson sent them off in 1803, and they returned in 1806.  This was before people journeyed west in covered wagons, and before railroad trains were invented.  This was before cars, and highways, and before airplanes made it possible to cross the country in a few hours.  This adventure took three years.

A Dog’s Tale is told by Seaman, and he is interested in dog things, like hunting beavers and deer, and turning aside a buffalo bull that charged into camp one night. Seaman is devoted to Lewis. He said, “Lewis and I would have been close anywhere, but the wilderness brought out the best in both of us. We were made for that territory…Sometimes I think that Lewis preferred the wilderness to people. (The wilderness) was perfect for both of us.”

Seaman talks about York, also. “Indians would come to camp just to see us…They thought he was somehow magical.”  York was the black slave owned by Captain William Clark. The book about him is titled My Name is York. This picture book is about York’s journey with the company and his quest for freedom from slavery. The Indians were fascinated by York, and called him Great Medicine. (Medicine and Magic were nearly the same thing.) York talks about Sacajawea, the Indian woman who was their interpreter. “On a morning brittle with cold, she delivers a son. We rejoice in his health and newness.”

In the Junior Biography section there is the book Who Was Sacajawea? I have read it before this, and it is a great book. The Expedition would have come to grief if she had not been with them.  So there are at least three children’s books about the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in our library, and you can find books about the Louisiana Purchase in the children’s non-fiction section, also.  It has been 221 years since these people set out on their journey of discovery.  If you want a great adventure, come to the Pine Bush Area Public Library and follow Lewis and Clark.