I Sailed With Columbus - Softcover

Schlein, Miriam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0064404234 ISBN 13: 9780064404235

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1992

Synopsis

Describes Columbus' first voyage of discovery as seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old ship's boy.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6-- Schlein's version of Columbus's voyage is notable for its bits of navigational information eagerly revealed by its likable protagonist, Julio, through his diary. As a ship's boy, he marks the time by the turning of the ampoletta and sings the verses that both inform and calm the religious and superstitious crew. Navigation by astronomy and the measurement of knots and distance are skills that Julio acquires while observing that Columbus has his own very skillful ways of performing the same measurements. Julio befriends a native boy, Tonoro, and, as in Susan Martin's book of the same title (Overlook, 1991), an unidentified ship's boy is at the tiller when the Santa Maria is destroyed on a coral reef. This is for a younger audience than that book, but both would make good read-alouds. --Sylvia V. Meisner, Allen Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A fictional account of Columbus's first voyage, based in part on the explorer's diaries. Julio de la Vega Medina (12) has left the friars who raised him to become a ``gromet'' (a ship's boy) on the Santa Maria. At the friars' urging, Julio keeps a diary, faithfully recording daily events during the first trek across the Atlantic and the explorations of the Indies. An obvious attempt to personalize the historic voyage for young readers, the book is little more than a sugarcoating of history. Interesting details abound, but the personal-diary format doesn't ring true: there is a decided lack of reflection and emotion for so private a document, and the narrator seems too conscious of possible readers. Maps; serviceable full-page drawings; historical note; attractive format. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0064404234
• ISBN 13: 9780064404235
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144
• Illustrator: Newsom Tom