Daniel Boone's Great Escape
Grade 2–4—This remarkable story was created from a single line reference in Boone's autobiography. He was in fact captured by Shawnee warriors and brokered a deal where he would remain with them and work to convince settlers to give up without a fight. When he learned of their plans to attack his family's settlement in Kentucky, he could not sit idly by. He escaped in an effort to get word to the settlers of the tribe's plan. Boone's journey back home was the stuff of derring-do as he eluded the Indians who were tracking him. Pushing himself beyond human capacity, he ran for more than four days and a total of 160 miles. For young readers interested in history and those who are drawn to adventure, this true story is a compelling one. The illustrations, however, at times seem a poor fit for the text, depicting Boone in an almost comic fashion. Nevertheless, this well-documented vignette from the frontiersman's life will find a place in most collections.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.