Homeschool Friday - Lewis and Clark Go West

Homeschool Friday is a feature here at Somewhere Only We Know that showcases books my family reads during homeschool and provides a mini-review/review for each.

Lewis and Clark Go West

By: McKay Pierce

Illustrated By: Kateryna Rohotova

Publication: January 1, 2022 by The Good and the Beautiful, LLC

47 pages

Genre: Children, Picture Book, Christian, Level-1

Source: Own/Personal Library

( Goodreads )

Goodreads description--Have you ever heard of Lewis and Clark? Long ago, they took a trip to see the land, animals, and people in the West. Look inside to learn more about what they saw and who they met!

Most of the Level-1 readers we have are from publishers like Random House and Scholastics. But we use a homeschool curriculum company called The Good and the Beautiful for a lot of our curriculum. The Good and the Beautiful has its own books written by several authors. Jenny Phillips, the company's creator, writes many of the books herself. And the company emphasizes good and beautiful literature that has strong moral values. I cannot appreciate this more. Most of the "normal" level-1 reader books are about 32 pages long with one or two short sentences per page or opening. Lewis and Clark Go West is a little longer with 47 pages and usually, one or two sentences per opening.

Lewis and Clark Go West begins with a challenging words page that includes 9 words used in the book that might be a little beyond the child's reading level, but I like that this is included at the beginning of the book so that you can go over these words with your child before they come to them in the book. This way maybe they will already recognize the words and be able to read them from memory already. Or if they get to one of these words while reading and can't sound it out phonetically or remember it, they will at least not be surprised and feel discouraged for not being able to read a challenging word.

Lewis and Clark Go West is exactly what you would think it is--a level-1 version of the events of Merriwether Lewis and William Clark's journey west to map the country and claim the territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean for America. The book talks about Sacagawea and her help as some things they saw along the way.

Lewis and Clark Go West is a 5-Star level-1 book. (The Good and the Beautiful technically rates this book as a level 1A.) The morals and messages often included in the books by The Good and the Beautiful weren't as present. But what makes this book a 5 Star book is the brief bits of history a child can get. Level-1 readers don't always have be entertaining only. We need more companies that focus on making quality content for young kids. Have you or your child read Lewis and Clark Go West? What did you think? Let me know!

*Note: Lewis and Clark Go West is no longer available for purchase through The Good and the Beautiful's website.