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Title: schoolgirl romance
Review: I read this book before allowing my eight year old daughter to read it. While engaging reading as an introduction to the Lewis and Clark saga, I found the fictional romantic sub-plot troubling. It advances the idea that the chief(only?) motivation of Sacajawa in pursuing the journey, as well as the woman's acts of courage chronicled in the journals, was her pursuit of the affections of Captain Clark. While arguably this romance between the two might have existed, it hardly does justice to the heroine to ascribe such weight to what boils down to a schoolgirl crush. It sends a negative message, I feel, to the young girls who read it. One might reasonably conclude from this novella that the only credible reason for a woman to become an explorer is the search for the love of a good man.
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