出版社周刊评论
Adapted from the 1853 journal of her family's trip from Iowa to Oregon, Knight's account makes an unusual text for a picture book. The weather, the number of wagons around them, and making camp or crossing rivers form the authentic but eventually monotonous concerns of the ``overlanders.'' Touches of dry humor appear, and dramatic incidents occur, as when a child is left behind. But McCurdy ( The Beasts of Bethlehem ) creates most of the excitement with his colored scratchboard illustrations, which recall 19th-century woodcuts. Strongly rendered pioneer faces glow with optimism and steadfastness in warm domestic scenes of the family sleeping in their wagon, or in climactic moments like the floating of wagon-beds across a river. An introduction by the adapter orients the reader, but also puts a 20th-century spin on Knight's perceptions: to say that ``Indians helped'' is to ignore the Knights' understanding of most of the encounters. At journey's end, the family gets some land; the reader will keep memories of the art but may leave the problematic text by the side of the trail. Ages 7-10. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
《儿童读物杂志》(Horn Book)书评
Along with her husband and seven children, Knight traveled by wagon from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. The dated entries of her diary form a terse chronicle covering a variety of hardships. McCurdy's bold, deep-hued scratchboard scenes fill the pages with absorbing views of the rigorous journey. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus评论
With her husband and seven children, Knight traveled in 1853 from Iowa to the Oregon Territory. Her terse diary entries create a vivid picture of the journey's challenges (terrible weather, dangerous rivers, bad roads, privation, sickness, accidents) and of a strong pioneer spirit; at the end, the birth of Knight's eighth child near Oregon's Columbia River is the first mention of her pregnancy. In McCurdy's tinted scratchboard illustrations, the pioneers are seen from a low point of view, so that even children and livestock seem larger than life, looming with rugged nobility and solid purpose in a landscape of strong, simple lines--in sharp contrast to Thomas Allen's softened, more intimate scenes for Van Leeuwen's Going West or Mark Graham's romanticized paintings in Pryor's Lottie's Dream (both 1992). First Americans don't come off quite as well here; they beg for food or sell it, collect tolls at fords, and are generally friendly but unpredictable. Schlissel provides a brief introduction concerning the pioneer experience, but unfortunately doesn't discuss the extent of her adaptation. An effective tribute, as far as it goes, to a great enterprise; visually appealing, with historical interest but in need of the kind of careful explanation provided for Marion Russell's memoirs (p. 1079). (Nonfiction/Picture book. 7-10)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Gr. 2-5. McCurdy's attractive artwork, strong woodcuts tinted with watercolor washes, decorates nearly every page of this book, which shows a pioneer family's journey from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. The story is told in "adapted" excerpts from the journal of Amelia Stewart Knight, a wife and mother who looked after her brood of seven children, gave birth to her eighth on the trail, and still found time to write. Although the telling is matter-of-fact, the various discomforts and dangers of the trip become apparent as the tale unfolds: kids get the mumps, everyone gets cold and wet and muddy, oxen go lame, rivers must be crossed with or without bridges, daughter Lucy gets left behind at one point (she's later returned to her family), and son Chat falls out of the wagon and is nearly run over by a wheel. The colorful, rhythmic illustrations dramatize events along the trail. The introduction fills in some details of wagon-train travel, but it omits background information on the diary itself, such as where it was found and how freely it was adapted. Still, teachers seeking materials on the Oregon Trail will find this a lively, useful resource. ~--Carolyn Phelan