The Discovery of the Americas - Hardcover

Maestro, Betsy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688068375 ISBN 13: 9780688068370

Publisher: Collins, 1991

Synopsis

"The Maestros do a real service here in presenting the more familiar explorers in the context of all the migrations that have populated the Western Hemisphere....An outstanding introduction."--Kirkus Reviews. "The dazzlingly clean and accurate prose and the exhilarating beauty of the pictures combine for an extraordinary achievement in both history and art."--School Library Journal.

About this title

About the Author

Betsy Maestro is the author of the "American Story" series, illustrated by her husband, Giulio. She has also written several other non-fiction picture books, including the Let's-Read-And-Find-Out science books How Do Apples Grow? and Why Do Leaves Change Color? The Maestros live in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Giulio Maestro is the illustrator of over 100 children’s books. He has also written his own books of word play and has co-authored two I Can Read Books with his son, Marco: What Do You Hear When Cows Sing, and Other Silly Riddles and Geese Find the Missing Piece: School Time Riddle Rhymes. The Maestros live in Old Lyme, CT.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5-- While this title is self-explanatory, it barely conveys the depth of the book's grand scope. The Maestros begin at the beginning as far as we know it, with the crossing of the Bering Land Bridge over 20,000 years ago. They carefully trace what is known of those Stone Age people, and include little-known points such as the possible visits of Phoenician explorers, Irish monks, Japanese fishermen, as well as the fairly well-documented Viking settlements. Illustrations show striking visual comparisons of ancient artifacts from both the Old and New Worlds, which reveal strong similarities. An appropriate emphasis is given to the thousands of years of human civilizations before Europeans established permanent settlements. The arrival of Columbus takes place almost halfway through the book. Conflicts between explorers who were fiercely ethnocentric and the native people who were often just as fierce in their own defense are treated with trenchant objectivity. Attractive, easy-to-use appendixes give tables of dates, pre-Columbian cultures, European explorers, and other facts. Giulio Maestro has achieved a happy mingling of artistic maps that include clear, descriptive diagrams of voyages and land routes, balanced with beautiful interpretations of broad landscapes in luscious colors of sky, cloud, sea, mountain, and forest. The dazzlingly clean and accurate prose and the exhilarating beauty of the pictures combine for an extraordinary achievement in both history and art. --Ruth Semrau, Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0688068375
• ISBN 13: 9780688068370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Maestro Giulio