Don Brown does a great job telling the story of how French born Alexandra David-Neel managed to become the first western woman to visit Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Although the book does not mention Don Brown's credentials, I do appreciate the extensive bibliography found at the back of the book. Not only does Brown use a wide variety of sources, he also uses two autobiographies written by David-Neel herself. By doing this, Brown adds weight and truthfulness to this biography. I also appreciate the easy to understand map at the beginning of the book. Students can easily decipher where this country is in relation to places they most likely have already heard about. This book is great to introduce students to Buddhism, the Asian country of Tibet, and to women explorers. ( )

Alexandra David-Neel was remarkable. She defied convention, traveled the world, and was the first European woman to reach Lhasa. Getting there would have been an adventure even if she was the thirtieth! She learned Tibetan, disguised her identity, traveled a wilderness, passed over a canyon thousands of feet below on a rope - amazing!

Unfortunately, reading the book, it doesn't sound quite so exciting. It sounds like a greater-than-usual trip to the store. I don't know why this is. The details should be enough to carry the story, those and the quotes scattered throughout, but they're not.

Still, it's an impressive tale. ( )