This Vast Land, by Stephen E. Ambrose

Retrieved from: the library
(0689864485), 2003
Suggested by: I can't remember: either a review, or (more likely) I cataloged it and thought it looked interesting

This is ostensibly a Young Adult novel, but one of those very frustrating ones which could (should?) be read by adults, and certainly won't be understood by most 12-year-olds. The writing is fairly historically accurate--with one jarring "go for it" towards the beginning being a bit...odd--and the author intentionally misspells and misnames places as a young, relatively uneducated man might have done. As he gets older and more learned, for instance, his spelling of Saskatchewan changes.

The story is a journal kept by the youngest man on the Lewis & Clark Expedition, 18-year-old George Shannon. Although it took me awhile to really get into it, I think most mid-teen boys would probably fall right in, given a certain level of interest in history. It's a wonderfully exciting tale, full of "savage" Indians (about whom George is pretty philosophically PC, although his attitude evolves over time naturally), gory hunting and killing scenes, starvation and sex. Oh, and even a love story, but shh, don't tell the boys! That's just for the girls to know about...

A pretty satisfying read for me. However, it might not be everyone's cup of tea, especially for those unwilling to explain assorted euphemisms for masturbation, or to accept that impregnating a 14-year-old is the same as marrying her, or to discuss the idea of taking enjoyment out of killing someone...all of which is great potential discussion fodder, but a bit shudder-inducing for this mom of an almost-teen.