Henry Hudson (Groundbreakers)

A biography of the English explorer and sea captain who explored three North American waterways later named for him--the Hudson River, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait.

Grade 4-7-These two biographies leave much to be desired. Both titles relay the basic facts about their subjects' lives but do not do so in a particularly interesting or organized manner. The lack of transition from one topic to another gives the books a disjointed and erratic flow. Pizarro's encounters with the Incas of South America are the focus of his biography, and a fair amount of information about this ancient civilization is included. Manning describes Hudson's various trips in an effort to find a passage to Asia, both through the Arctic Circle and across the Atlantic, as well as his voyage up the Hudson River. Several pages are devoted to the mutiny that apparently ended Hudson's life. The full-color photos and reproductions of the explorers, the civilizations they explored, and the maps of their trips are probably the best aspects of the books. Try Joan Goodman's Beyond the Sea of Ice: The Voyages of Henry Hudson (Mikaya, 1999) or Richard Worth's Pizarro and the Conquest of the Incan Empire in World History (Enslow, 2000) instead.
Carol Fazioli, formerly at The Brearley School, New York City
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