The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe

I ordered this book for a literature class I do with my kids. We home school. Great book just challenging word's so we define the ones we don't understand.

It has dog, automatic five stars, quality book, amazing literary adventure with dog, dog is good boi, therefore book is good

I read this book with my 4th grade class while we were studying Lewis and Clark. I loved it and so did they. It did a wonderful job of engaging their interest in the subject. It is basically Lewis and Clark's expedition from the point of view of Seaman, Captain Lewis's dog. It starts out after the expedition is over. Seaman is living with a tribe after other believed him to be dead. He is found by two Corps of Discovery members. The tribe had Captain Lewis's journal and ask the two men to read and translate it from them. While the dog, Seaman listens Toth journal being read, he reminisces through flashbacks. Each chapter begins with an exert from Lewis's journal. It is a very good read, especially for engaging interest in Lewis and Clark's expedition.

This is a fairly weak book. On the plus side, it's one of the more readable accounts of Lewis and Clark's expedition, it follows historical events reasonably well, and the use of the dog's perspective is clever and entertaining. However, the writing is nothing special and the framing story of trappers reading Lewis's journal and the dog silently commenting is not explained and not necessary. Mostly, however, the author was lazy. He based his account entirely on Lewis's personal journal, so when Lewis had nothing to say, neither does the author (or the dog). This leads to a story with no particular beginning, middle, or end and little tension other than during the initial crossing of the Rockies.Additionally, the author was uncertain what to do about Meriwether Lewis himself. Lewis was probably bipolar and committed suicide a few years after the expedition. The narrator dog frequently mentions Lewis being depressed or angry at himself, but no explanation is ever given, and no mention is ever made of Lewis's condition. As this is primarily intended for younger audiences, it's reasonable to have left that out, but I think the moments of depression should have been, too, as they added little to the story. I suspect that some of the incomplete framing story probably mentioned how Lewis died (and therefore how the journal got into the hands of trappers who had been on the expedition), and that an editor suggested that suicide was not a good topic to include here. Fair enough, but it wasn't edited well enough and the loose ends stand out.

I read this to my son and it was so good we finished in 5 days. It's really fun to hear the dog's perspective.

I bought this book at Glacier National Park and totally loved it! A must read if traveling in the area!! Plus, if you are a dog lover, it will be such a sweet book!

My son read this book and could not put it down! He is not the type to willingly pick up a book and because I know what he likes, I generally make his reading choices. He absolutely loved the story from the dog's point of view. He went so far as to recommend it to his classmates. He was about 10 or 11 years old the first time he read it and at 22 years old now, it's still a favorite and he continues to recommend it! We now have a hard copy as well as an e-book!

This book has been my Grandson's favorite book since he was 6 years old. He has just turned 10 and it was very exciting for me to provide him with a hard cover first edition. I have read this book and think it is a wonderful book for children to get started in reading. It worked wonders for my grandson. As he is now an avid reader.