JAMES TOWNE

What was it like on that first journey to Jamestown, or in the first years in the New World? Written as though in the words of one of the settlers, this strives to share that experience and includes actual quotes from the diaries and letters of 15 of them. The tale is filled with misadventures, hardships, and dangers right from the inauspicious beginning as ships set sail on Dec. 20, 1606, and then languish, “ ‘but by unprosperous winds, were kept six weekes in sight of England.’ ” It was not until April of 1607 that 104 men and boys reached shore where they were met by hostile Indians and several were wounded. Returning to their ships, they traveled further up the James River and in May reached a peninsula 40 miles up. There they named their settlement James Towne for King James. The settlement did not prosper; George Percy, a Gentleman, notes: “ ‘There were never Englishmen left in a foreigne Countrey in such miserie as wee were in this new discovered Virginia.’ ” Plagued by mosquitoes, hostile Indians, rotten food, fires that nearly destroyed the village, and gentlemen unable or unwilling to work; the colony nearly did not survive. Sewall, who is noted for her young American histories (Pilgrims of Plimoth, 1986, etc.) weaves a fascinating story and illustrates the adventure with her signature watercolor-and-sepia-ink drawings. She concludes with a list of characters quoted, a glossary, and selected source material. The brief quotes from primary sources and the text that elaborates on the quotes make history come alive for young readers. (Nonfiction. 8-10)