Oct. 22, 1803

Capt. Lewis noticed that I kept a journal. I told him Ma had sent it to me. That I wrote in it faithfully so that she and the others back home might one day read of my adventure.

Hearing this, Capt. Lewis got all worked up, the way he does. "That's it, Pup!" he said. "Write your story, a private's story, of the Expedition!" He said I must put down exactly how I see things. He said he would never ask to read my journal. That it would exist for posterity, that was what mattered. He went on and on, and I lost him in parts. He finished by saying, "Write a true and honest story, Pup. Tell how you left your home and your family, how you left America and all that you knew to voyage out into the Great Unknown!"

Naturally, I said, "Yes, sir!"

"'Capt. Lewis noticed I already kept a journal.... I wrote in it faithfully so that Ma and the others back home might one day read of my adventure.' Narrator George is just 16 years old when he becomes Private Shannon, 1st U.S. Regiment, Infantry, in the famous expedition to find a Northwest Passage to the Pacific, a presumed river route across the continent. Based on scant records of McMullan's (Under the Mummy's Spell) own ancestor, George's fascinating story unspools through convincing journal entries between July 1803 and November 1805. Readers become privy to the challenges faced by the Captains as they tried to keep spirits up and the 40-man crew together as they become beleaguered by disease, hunger, cold, heat, bugs, boils and the strenuous labor of portaging boats. McMullan litters the narrative with delectable period details, and leavens with humor the expedition's seriousness of purpose ('Last night... the chorus of snores would have drowned out a thunderstorm'). Surprising facts (such as Capt. Lewis was only 29 years old at the start of the journey) juxtaposed with retellings of classic moments (e.g., Sacagawea's role in the success of the journey) keep the story lively, as does the suspense as to when the captains will realize there is no connection between the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. At the beginning of the book, Captain Lewis asks George to record a 'true and honest' story; indeed, readers will find George to be a credible and engaging witness to this inspiring journey. Ages 10-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In 1804, 16-year-old George Shannon joined Lewis and Clark on their perilous two-year journey across the continent. Based on extensive research, this fictional journal tells the story of George's adventures with the Corps of Discovery. Maps and spot art.

Kate McMullan is the authorof many books for young readers, includingI Stink!, winner of a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor; I'm Mighty; and Meg's Prairie Diary, a historical fiction trilogy set in St. Louis and Kansas in 1856. She has been fascinated by the Lewis and Clark Expedition since the age of ten, when an uncle told her about an ancestor who had gone on the expedition. That ancestor was sixteen-year-old George Shannon. Ms. McMullan lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York, with her husband and collaborator, noted illustrator Jim McMullan, their daughter, two cats, and a dog.