The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689 - Hardcover

Maestro, Betsy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688134483 ISBN 13: 9780688134488

Publisher: Collins, 1998

Synopsis

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, much of America remained a vast wilderness. Within sixty years of their arrival, America's first cities were thriving seaports, the first college was founded, public education had begun, books were printed, coins minted, and postal service launched. The New Americans tells the story of the origins of our rich multicultural heritage, an exciting chapter in Betsy and Giulio Maestro's acclaimed American Story series.

About this title

About the Authors

Betsy Maestro taught kindergarten and first grade for eleven years and earned a master's degree in elementary guidance. She has collaborated with her husband, Giulio, on more than forty-five books for young children, including The Story of the Statue of Liberty, A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution, an ALA Notable Book, as well as Delivery Van: Words for Town and Country and All Aboard Overnight: A Book of Compound Words. She lives in Connecticut.

Giulio Maestro is an author and artist who has illustrated more than 100 books for young readers, including Liberty or Death: The American Revolution: 1763-1783, which was co-written with his wife, Betsy Maestro, and What Do you Hear When Cows Sing: And Other Silly Riddles, which was co-written with his son, Marco Maestro. He lives with his wife, Betsy, in Old Lyme, Connecticut

Reviews

Grade 2-5?An excellent, evenhanded account of European immigration to North America during Colonial times. In clear language, the Maestros explain this often confusing part of American history. They take readers from the French explorers of the early 1600s, to the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620, to 1689, when the European population here numbered over 200,000. With beautifully rendered full-color illustrations that are well labeled, this book will leave students with a glimpse of how greedy some settlers were, how religious intolerance played an important role in establishing certain settlements, how hostilities were bound to grow between Europeans and natives, and how the struggle for this continent had only just begun. An "Additional Information" page includes historical tidbits (such as information on the first woman lawyer in the colonies and the founding of Harvard College) and is followed by a fact sheet on "Exploration and Explorers: 1634-1685." This is a fine work that will be well used and create a lot of interest. Other titles to be used in conjunction with it include Sarah Howarth's Colonial People and Colonial Places (both Millbrook, 1994) and Lucille Recht Penner's The Pilgrims at Plymouth (Random, 1996).?Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This entry, fourth in The American Story series (third chronologically), covers colonization by the English, Dutch, French, and Spanish, as well as the displacement of the Native Americans, brings in the Pilgrims, Puritans, the beginnings of the Triangle Trade, and comments on the shifting patterns of alliances and warfare between Europeans and native peoples. The author, perhaps inevitably, has to jump around to cover such complex subjects in the limited space of (essentially) a picture-book format, but she is aided by the illustrator's gorgeous maps and illustrations. Also compensating for the lack of narrative flow is the warts-and-all coverage, which puts all cultures on an equal historical footing. As a starting point for research, the quick explanations of many different topics will be useful, and the index and additional back matter will give readers direction in pursuing fuller coverage on a variety of topics. (maps, index) (Nonfiction. 6-10) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. From the Maestro's American Story series, which began with The Discovery of the Americas (1991), this volume discusses the colonial era up to 1680. As in the first book, large-scale illustrations in watercolor and colored pencil provide panoramic views of places as well as pictures of people and their activities. The easily digestible text describes the development of the colonies, particularly in New England and New France, and the interaction of colonialists with Native Americans. The book devotes several double-page spreads to the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies; other areas receive more cursory treatment. For instance, Jamestown's only significant mention is in conjuction with the arrival of slaves. That lapse aside, this attractive oversize book will still have plenty of appeal for youngsters, especially given the dearth of well-illustrated American history books on school and public library shelves. Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688134483
• ISBN 13: 9780688134488
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Maestro Giulio
• Number of pages: 48