Pocahontas (Compass Point Early Biographies series) [Paperback]

Raatma (Author), Lucia (Author)

Book Description

Series: Compass Point Early Biographies

A biography of Pocahontas that highlights some important events as she helped to bring about peace and friendship between English settlers in Virginia and the native Powhatan people.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 1-5-With a fine selection of archival photographs and pictures in color, this biography is beautifully laid out. Through carefully chosen words and a minimum of supposition, the major incidents in Pocahontas's life are presented. Assertions of fact are kept to a minimum unless they can be substantiated. For example, when the most-often cited incident involving Pocahontas-her intercession with her father on behalf of John Smith-is discussed, the text says, "He said that Pocahontas saved his life. This may or may not be true." The rest of the story, with only an occasional lapse, is similarly qualified. There are many other biographies available for this audience. This one is worthy of consideration for its readable and accessible text, its careful separation of fact from fable, and its selection of a Web site that points out where the popular Disney movie strays into fantasy.

Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

About the Author

Compass Point Books is a publisher of children’s books and digital products.

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Compass Point Books; 1st edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075651178X
• ISBN-13: 978-0756511784
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,404,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lucia Raatma (1963-) was born as Lucia Tarbox in Georgetown, South Carolina, and grew up on the grounds of Brookgreen Gardens, an outdoor sculpture garden and wildlife park. She earned a B.A. in English from the University of South Carolina in 1985 and then went on to earn an M.A. in cinema studies from New York University in 1989. She was a copy editor for G. P. Putnam's Sons and later served as managing editor. After working freelance for a few years while she and her husband, Andy, started a family, Lucia was a copy editor at Reader's Digest magazine. Currently, she lives in the Tampa Bay area with Andy and their two children, Lizzie and Alex. She does freelance copy editing and writes a variety of books for the children's educational market.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Antidote to Disney's Pocahontas, June 10, 2005

By 

Ingrid "ingrid_in_nc" (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pocahontas (Compass Point Early Biographies) (Library Binding)

If you would like to know the historical facts for the life of Pocahontas, this book is an excellent choice for children 11 and under. The author writes clear, readable text and uses excellent illustrations to convey the story. I particularly liked the historical paintings of Pocahontas and the photographs of statues from Jamestown. The author was very careful to say which pieces of the story were conjecture and which were based on period sources.

My seven-year-old read the text aloud easily, yet it conveyed a great deal of information. My ten-year-old could have easily read the book to himself and enjoyed it. He certainly enjoyed it as a read-aloud.

Although the book does not critique Disney's movie, you can read the book after viewing the movie and easily tell fact from fiction. If you want more information about the Disney movie and how it relates to history, the following website does a nice job of comparing Disney's version to what we know is historically accurate:

http://pocahontas.morenus.org/

I think this book would be worth owning, but we borrowed our copy from the library.