Pioneers (Library of Congress)

Martin W. Sandler is the author of many books and has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also an acclaimed television writer and producer, with five Emmy awards to his credit. He lives in New Hampshire.

Sandler ( The Story of American Photography ) orchestrates the debut of a Library of Congress line of American history books with panache, drawing on the Library's picture collections to augment lucid, age-appropriate text with a wealth of illustrations. Except for its awkward use of present and future tenses ("the outlaws will be killed or driven from the territory"), the prose nimbly sidesteps the numbing filmstrip-speak that can be the pitfall of historical nonfiction, even if the effect is a bit more sedate than Linda Granfield's Cowboy (Children's Forecasts, Dec. 6). Wonderful archival photographs help provide a window on the world of the cowboy, from the reality (hard, lonely, dangerous work) to the Hollywood myth, and of the pioneers who pushed west in search of a better life, settling the country along the way. Crisply written, beautifully designed and blessed with an abundance of art--from maps and lithographs to paintings, movie posters, handbills and song lyrics--these two volumes are a valuable addition to American history for the middle grades. Surprisingly--and disappointingly--no captions or endnotes identify the subjects, settings and sources of the pictures. Ages 8-up.
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