Tragic Tale of Narcissa Whitman and a Faithful History of the Oregon Trail, The

by Cheryl Harness

When she was a young girl, Narcissa loved nothing better than to read heroic tales about brave men and women risking their lives to bring Christian ideas to "barbarians" in far-off places. In 1831, her dream of doing the same was about to come true. That's when some Indians arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, looking for the "White Man's Book of Heaven." Their quest was the answer to Narcissa's She would bring salvation to "those wandering sons of our native forests. "

Narcissa married Marcus Whitman, another missionary want-to-be, and they headed West. She spent her honeymoon riding side-saddle some 2,000 miles across the vast, often perilous trail to Oregon Country—something no other white woman had ever done. Then she and Marcus lived happily ever after singing hymns and teaching the Indians about the Bible, right? Wrong! Readers will find out what really happened when East met West at the end of the real-life, legendary Oregon Trail.

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Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Historical, American History

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2006

About the author

Author and illustrator. Worked variously as a student teacher, waitress, short-order cook, portrait artist, and needlework designer. Greeting-card artist for Hallmark Cards and Current. Presenter at schools.

Reviews

[Betsy]

I really like how Harness takes a figure and uses him/her as a lens through which to understand the times better. In this case, it's Narcissa Whitman and her pioneering journey over what would become the Oregon Trail (but wasn't, yet) along with her husband and another missionary couple. This book presented information I'm already familiar with (having been to the Whitman Mission several times and having visited/seen a number of places mentioned in the book). Harness's descriptions of physical geography were spot on. Her vignettes of other people (such as Jedidiah, Mountain Man) were well done, the timeline at the bottom of the pages is a super touch, and her balance of the "who's fault was it" tension swirling around this terrible massacre was perfect. She does not minimize either the white men's actions nor the Indians; instead, the reader comes away with a sense of the true tragedy: that this massacre might have been averted if people were able to better communicate with one another, if people really thought about how their various actions were affecting one another, and if people had been more quick to heed wise warnings of trouble ahead.

A terrific resource for those studying Washington State History, the Oregon Trail, and/or early American missionaries.

[Chris Evans]

The Tragic Tale of Narcissa Whitman and a Faithful History of the Oregon Trail by author Cheryl Harness is a non-fiction young adult novel. I did not find that it had won any awards but it was published my national geographic. I am wondering if they try to purposely bore young people with non-fiction to keep them uninterested in serious topics and therefore uneducated. The only reason I finished the book is because I had to. The review made it seem like an exciting story about a young girl’s trip out west and her adventures along the way. What it turned out to be is a slow third party tale of history that at least does not paint early American abuse of native peoples. There were pictures and writings, a few side stories in the book but overall the characters were not likable. None of the characters were likable. I was entirely unimpressed. I am glad that I will not be teaching this sort of history in my classes. I hope that there are some more attention-grabbing books out there to get teens interested in the history of their country and their past.

[Victoria (hotcocoaandbooks)]

This was a quick read as the font is pretty big, there is a cool timeline on the bottom of the pages to explain things that happened around the world during the time you are reading, and there are illustrations here and there. A lot of this book would teach you about wagons, some of the common tings eaten along the trails, and tidbits like that.

This book starts out talking about the pioneers who headed out west and how, in a town in NY (I think it was Amity, actually), Narcissa Prentiss was born and had a calling early on in life to do something important and to also be a missionary. There was a pastor who asked who would go out west to be missionaries out to the Natives there and those emigrating to settle in Oregon. She and Marcus Whitman decided they would go. Since no white woman had crossed out west before, and since it would be dangerous for her to do so as a single woman, they married.

The issue with this book is that I feel I didn't really understand or grasp who Narcissa was fully. There wasn't much research done about her actual life. There were only a few letters that they quoted, in which she had sent to her sister, but I really wanted to understand it more. There was little about what she experienced. It seemed like she spent a bit of time in Oregon, and we didn't get much about what that looked like.

It was a bit gruesome (I went in already knowing a bit about how it would end). It was sad. Also, I want to say how awkward it must have been for them to travel with a man who had wanted to marry Narcissa earlier on in her life who traveled with his wife too.

content: clean story (no sex, no bad language), mentions of sad ways people died or are killed (and yes, it is described a bit). People are mentioned to have illnesses.

[Donna Tarver]

Not a great book. I was very interested in Nacissa Whitman, but the story gave her no depth. The author also skipped over or only brushed onto key parts of her journey and her life. The beginning of the book was detailed but by the end of the story she merely gave short spurts of the story, not even really telling much about the end of Narcissa Whitman’s life. Overall very disappointing.

[Lori Schmidt]

I read this outloud to my kids. My 9 year old loved it and followed along well my 5 year old liked it but didn't follow as well. Very informative and interesting.

[Tiffany Larson]

This is an interesting, spunky, third-person review of the Oregon trail adventures of Narcissa Whitman, who was one of 2 women in her party to be the first female to cross the Oregon trail. This book is written for middle readers, but younger kids could understand it perfectly (could be read to them if it is above their reading level). I especially liked the fun and well-done pencil illustrations of the trail, its geographical features along the way, supplies, etc. I thought the most interesting part was the two page illustration of a covered wagon and the supplies needed to cross the Oregon trail. The text noted the astounding amount of provisions required for just one adult.

This summer, our family became interested in the Oregon trail when we explored the Oregon trail wagon ruts and the amazing "Kelton Ramp" on Boise's east side. If you haven't seen the Kelton ramp--go there soon for a fun and interesting day hike.

[Nelda Brangwin]

This is a excellent biography if you are looking for historical writing that incorporates primary documents-- entries from Narcissa Whitman's letters. The only thing that could enhance this book is more of a look at the Cayuse Indians who killed Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. The Cayuse felt that the Doctor was poisoning them He could heal the pioneers, but his medicine didn't work on the Natives.

[Diane]

I like how Cheryl Harness put a timeline at the bottom of the pages of important events going on during the time of Narcissa Whitman. The story was concise and written at a great level for younger kids. It was not an in depth report, but a quick overview of Narcissa's life. There was a couple of pages in the back for more information. I look forward to others in this series.

[Vanessa]

very disjointed telling of the tale. I thought it would be more in narrative story format as a JUV book. It skipped around and the time line along the bottom of every page added more confusion, instead of helping. read for summer reading program

[Rachel]

Reviewed for VOYA