Kit Carson

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-These three titles are revisions of the ``Raintree Stories'' series from the mid-1980s. They feature larger type, shorter sentences, and offer a bit less detail. Nothing has been added to the texts, though the term ``Native American'' replaces ``Indian'' in Kit Carson. The full-color illustrations are adequate, and have not been changed from the older versions, though the covers are new. While Annie Oakley and Sacagawea discuss each woman's childhood after describing later events, Kit Carson is arranged chronologically. For the most part, the books describe major events in the subjects' lives, but offer little insight into their personalities. The facts are accurate, but presented in a fairly unexciting manner. Some significant details are skipped, such as Carson's second marriage (his first is noted), and Oakley's tours in Europe are barely mentioned. Annie Oakley includes some fictionalized dialogue; the other books do not. These biographies will be useful for assignments, though students would get more enjoyment from livelier books such as Robert Quackenbush's Who's That Girl with the Gun? (Prentice Hall, 1987; o.p.). Like David Adler's ``Picture Book Biography'' series (Holiday) and the ``Rookie Biographies'' (Childrens), these volumes serve as adequate, bare-bones introductions to intriguing historical figures.-Steven Engelfried, West Linn Public Library, OR