The Last River: John Wesley Powell and the Colorado River Exploring Expedition (Great Explorers)
Grade 3-6–In 1869, a one-armed Civil War veteran who was mad about geology gathered a small crew to explore the last blank space left on the U.S. map: the Colorado River. A description of the areas natural history segues right into the adventure. Powell and his men were the first on record to run the rivers rapids from a tributary in Wyoming down through the Grand Canyon. It was a wild ride–rowboats smashing, Powell dangling from a canyon wall by a rescuers long underwear, brutal conditions, resentment of the leader, disappearing men–and this book does it justice. Well-chosen thrills, spills, and conflicts are spliced into a narrative that highlights the danger underlying this scientific mission. Readers learn about Powell and what drove him, but its the journey that takes center stage. The handsomely designed text pages are accompanied by boxed journal entries from some of the men, lending immediacy to the tale, or by black-and-white period photos. Large, full-color impressionistic paintings convey the action, events, and geographic drama. A foldout map that can remain open while reading is helpful; several careless editing errors (including a URL typo) are not. An afterword briefly recounts the further lives of the expeditions survivors. With its brevity and sharp focus, this would be a good introduction to the excursion and might spark interest in more detailed accounts, such as Mary Ann FrasersIn Search of the Grand Canyon(Holt, 1995).–Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.