Roanoke: The Lost Colony--An Unsolved Mystery from History - Hardcover

Stemple, Heidi E. Y.; Yolen, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689823215 ISBN 13: 9780689823213

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

In this spine-tingling book from the nonfiction An Unsolved Mystery from History picture book series, journey to colonial America and discover the enduring mystery of the missing Roanoke Colony.

In 1587 John White was chosen by Sir Walter Raleigh to lead a new colony at Roanoke off the Atlantic coast. After bringing many men, women, and children to the new land, White went back to England to gather supplies for the long winter. But when he finally returned to the fort almost three years later, he found that all of the colonists had vanished.

The only signs of life left were the letters CRO carved into a tree and the word CROATOAN carved into one of the fort’s posts. Did the Spanish army capture the colonists? Did the colonists get in a battle with the native people—or join them? Did they try to follow John White to England and get lost at sea?

Become a detective, study the clues, and see if you can help solve this chilling mystery from history!

About this title

About the Author

Jane Yolen is an award-winning author who has written more than 380 books for children, including the bestseller How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? and the 1988 Caldecott Medal winner Owl Moon. She is known for her beautiful poetry, picture books, fairy tales, novels, and nonfiction, and has even been called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” (Newsweek). She lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Visit her at JaneYolen.com.

Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple is the author of more than thirty books for children, some of which she coauthored with her mother, Jane Yolen, including Not All Princesses Dress in Pink. Heidi lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts.

Roger Roth has been an illustrator since graduating with a BFA from Pratt Institute in 1980. Roger’s work appears regularly in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and other publications. His work is also used by advertising companies for national and international campaigns. Roger has illustrated more than fifteen children’s books (two of which he also wrote). He also serves as senior lecturer at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a frequent presenter at area schools.

Reviews

Gr. 2-5. As in The Mary Celeste (1999) and The Wolf Girls (2001), this picture book for older children is framed by a fictional story about a detective's daughter who investigates a famous historical mystery. Here she tells readers about the founding of the Roanoke colony in 1587. It seems the colony's leader, who departed to obtain supplies, returned to find the colonists gone. The girl sets forth several theories and questions about what may have happened to the "lost colony," letting readers examine the facts and draw their own conclusions. There's a lot going on here: a framework story, the historical account, the ending hypotheses, and the addition of "notebook pages" with background information; children may need to read the book more than once to take it all in. The large, picture-book format offers plenty of scope for Roth's appealing narrative illustrations in watercolor and pencil. An attractive, intriguing introduction to the lost colony. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689823215
• ISBN 13: 9780689823213
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Roth Roger
• Number of pages: 32