During a sun dance of early Native American tribes a crew of French traders arrive there and ask the wise medicine man White Fox, and his family to help them make trade with the other tribes. When White fox agrees, him, his cautious wife South Wind, and his curious son Red Horse follow the French trader, that they named Blue Jacket, to there fort. After they left the fort they began a journey along a narrowing river and a mis-behaving voyageur causes problems with one of the tribes that get the whole expedition in trouble. They must fight to keep there trade with the other tribes.

The book Fort de Chastinge uses the theme of making friends and enemies consistently throughout the story. The whole point of the book is basically about making friends so the French can have guides and friendly tribes to trade with. There is a point the author almost tells the reader this. It is at the begging when White Fox asks Blue Jacket what the point of the expedition is and he replies “to make trade” (42).the author did many good things such as this but what he did best was tell the thoughts and feelings of the natives and how they would feel about the new stuff. This seemed very accurate as to there feelings.

In the book Fort De Chastigne it has a very similar setting to many Lewis and Clark stories or books. The lush forest and rivers will put the reader in the same place in either book. More than just the setting is the tribes of the Natives and the way there set up. One obvious difference though is the French fort that the French built up. So overall it is a good book even though there is no real climax and the ending is very dull. This book would be good for anyone interested in Native American cultures or early American settlers.