The English Colonization of America: How Explorers and Colonists Such As Sir Walter Raleigh, John Smith, and Miles Standish Helped Establish England's . in the New World (Exploration & Discovery)

Chronicles the English attempts to settle in North America during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the failed colony on Roanoke Island and the more successful Jamestown settlement.

Grade 4-7-This brief volume focuses on the years from 1587 to 1631 when the first English attempts to put permanent settlements in place on the North American continent were made. Raleigh and the failed colonies at Roanoke are described a little more fully than is usual in books for this age, while the material on Jamestown, Plymouth, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony can be found in a number of other sources. Sidebars contain short biographical sketches of some of the key players, while reproductions of portraits and other paintings of events illustrate the straightforward text. The caption for a portrait of King James I makes the oversimplified statement that "When Raleigh failed in his mission to find gold in South America, the king had him beheaded for treason." A sidebar featuring Cotton Mather seems curiously out of place, given that he was born well after the events covered here. Students needing information for reports on the founding of the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies will find useful material here, but will need to supplement it with additional sources. Betsy Maestro's The New Americans: Colonial Times, 1620-1689 (Lothrop, 1998) covers much of this material, and includes the Maryland and Pennsylvania colonies, although the oversized format and watercolor illustrations give it a younger look. Rebecca Stefoff's The Colonies (Benchmark, 2001) is another possible choice. Where additional materials on colonization are needed, and budgets permit, this is an adequate selection.
Elaine Fort Weischedel, Franklin Public Library, MA
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