About this item
Highlights
- "It was a wild ride... and this book does it justice.
- 48 Pages
- Juvenile Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography
Description
About the Book
The story of the first Europeans to survive traveling by boat down the Colorado River. The 1869 3 month exploration reduced 4 boats and 10 men to 2 boats and 6 men, but made them witness to unsurpassed beauty and their true adventure is inspiring.Book Synopsis
"It was a wild ride... 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... Handsomely designed text... large, full-color impressionistic paintings convey the action."
--School Library Journal
No European had ever taken boats down the Colorado river and come out alive. In May 1869, ten men boarded four rowboats in Green River City, Wyoming. Three months and 1,000 miles later, two battered boats carrying six exhausted and starving men emerged from the depths of the Grand Canyon. The Last River tells their remarkable story.
The man who challenged the Colorado, Major John Wesley Powell, was a small, bookish geology professor from a Midwestern farm. Despite his size and the constant pain from the Civil War wound that had cost him his arm, Powell's twin passions--adventure and scientific exploration--drew him to the Colorado River.
For three months, he and nine crewmembers thrilled to riding the rapids and endured the backbreaking labor of transporting boats and cargo past rapids too dangerous to run. They discovered canyons of unsurpassed beauty and gave them names like Music Temple and Canyon of Lodore. They saved each other from drowning, and suffered together as their food supply dwindled to nearly nothing.
Excerpts from journals of crewmembers personalize the gripping text. Original paintings and a foldout map allow the reader to follow the expedition's route and its adventures.
The Last River is an inspiring and riveting true adventure written with drama and compassion that brings history to life.
Review Quotes
[Review of hardcover edition: ] Dramatic illustrations and many sidebars with excerpts from the journals of Powell's men.... appealing illustrations will lure readers.-- "Kirkus Reviews" (10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM)
[Review of hardcover edition: ] Handsome full- and double-page paintings... Rich in colors, strong in composition, and beautifully executed, these often-dramatic paintings bring the story to life.--Carolyn Phelan "Booklist" (12/15/2005 12:00:00 AM)
[Review of hardcover edition: ] It was a wild ride... 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... Handsomely designed text... large, full-color impressionistic paintings convey the action.--Nancy Palmer "School Library Journal" (2/1/2006 12:00:00 AM)
[Review of hardcover edition: ] The thrill-a-minute narrative and dramatic paintings pulse with adventure, as the men navigate treacherous rapids and sheer cliffs, endure blistering heat and near starvation, and pull off daring rescues.-- "School Library Journal" (10/1/2006 12:00:00 AM)
About the Author
Stuart Waldman is a writer and editor. His previous Great Explorer's Book, We Asked For Nothing: The Remarkable Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, won an International Reading Association Children's Book Award, Notable Book for 2004.
Gregory Manchess's paintings have appeared in such publications as Time, Newsweek, Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian and National Geographic. He has also illustrated many movie posters, billboards and children's books. His work has received a gold medal and three silver medals from the Society of Illustrators in New York.