Blood on the River
James Town, 1607
-
-
4.4 • 330 Ratings
-
-
- $8.99
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
Twelve-year-old Samuel Collier is a lowly commoner on the streets of London. So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can’t believe his good fortune. He’s heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he imagined. The lush Virginia shore where they establish the colony of James Town is both beautiful and forbidding, and it’s hard to know who’s a friend or foe. As he learns the language of the Algonquian Indians and observes Captain Smith’s wise diplomacy, Samuel begins to see that he can be whomever he wants to be in this new land.
Customer Reviews
Great Book
I read this book for a history assignment over summer, and I will admit, I hated this book in the beginning. But it grew on me, and now it’s a book I reread with relish. I love references to Algonquian language and words and Samuel’s character development and relationships. This book does an incredible job of engaging the reader with Samuel’s world and bringing it to life. However, the characters are incredibly unappealing to twenty-first century readers in the beginning, and there is a lot of racism and prejudice/violence/cruelty mentioned and dealt with.
Great story
I teach fifth grade and my students LOVE this book. It presents typically dry, dull history in a way that is approachable and engaging and paints a vivid picture of settlement life. They would literally yell for me to keep reading at the end of every chapter. Highly recommended historical fiction!
Amazing!
My 8th grade son was assigned this as summer reading and, as I (like Captain Smith) will not send people where I am unwilling to lead, took it upon myself to read this book, as i have so many others over the course of my children's schooling.
By chapter six, I was hooked. And, began to relate to the hardships that my family's own ancestors that have likewise been here since the early 17th century (they settled in New England), must have faced. We have so much in this 21st century world of ours that we take for granted. It is extraordinarily important that we never lose sight of the sacrifices and hardships of those that came before us, nor respect for the native peoples that for 20,000 years held dominion and harmony with this land we now call home.
This book does an amazing job of placing both worlds in their proper context, and causes one to wonder what would have become of this world if Powhatan had succeeded in repelling the European invasion of his ancestral land.
One can only wonder...