Roanoke: The Lost Colony--An Unsolved Mystery from History (Hardcover)

by Heidi Elisabet Y Stemple (Author), Jane Yolen (Author), Roger Roth (Illustrator) "When I grow up I want to be a detective, just like my dad..." (more)
Key Phrases: New World, John White

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Gr. 2-5. As in The Mary Celeste (1999) and The Wolf Girls (2001), this picture book for older children is framed by a fictional story about a detective's daughter who investigates a famous historical mystery. Here she tells readers about the founding of the Roanoke colony in 1587. It seems the colony's leader, who departed to obtain supplies, returned to find the colonists gone. The girl sets forth several theories and questions about what may have happened to the "lost colony," letting readers examine the facts and draw their own conclusions. There's a lot going on here: a framework story, the historical account, the ending hypotheses, and the addition of "notebook pages" with background information; children may need to read the book more than once to take it all in. The large, picture-book format offers plenty of scope for Roth's appealing narrative illustrations in watercolor and pencil. An attractive, intriguing introduction to the lost colony. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

In 1587 John White was chosen by Sir Walter Raleigh to lead a new colony at Roanoke off the Atlantic coast. After bringing many men, women, and children to the new land, White went back to England to gather supplies for the long winter. But when he finally returned to the fort almost three years later, he found that all of the colonists had vanished. The only signs of life left were the letters CRO carved into a tree and the word CROATOAN carved into one of the fort's posts. Some people think that the Spanish army captured the colonists; some people think that the local native people murdered them; others think that the colonists went off to live with the native people and start a new life. Still others think that the colonists tried to sail home to England and were lost at sea. No one knows for sure.

Become a detective as you read this true story, study the clues, and try to figure out the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke. The Unsolved Mystery from History series is written by acclaimed author Jane Yolen and former private investigator Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple. Read carefully and check your clues. You might be the first to solve a puzzle that has baffled people for years.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689823215
• ISBN-13: 978-0689823213
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 9.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #354,206 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great true life mystery, May 19, 2004

By	The Park School (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This is a wonderful book for children ages 7 - 12. The historical information is presented in an organized way that captivates one's imagination. The illustrations keep a child's interest and the notebook pages help the reader try to solve the mystery.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Roanoke The Lost Colony An Unsolved Mystery From History, June 1, 2004

By A Customer

This book was amazing! Full of interesting clues about the never-answered questions, "What really happened? Who is to blame for George Howe's death? And where is the colony now?" Jane Yolen brilliantly tells the story about how George Howe died, shot with arrows while fishing for crabs, and how the colony Roanoke disappeared twice without a trace.
A brilliant tale of mystery. (...)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars like the concept, could have been better executed, August 28, 2008

By	J. Stout (Portsmouth, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Personally, I find the story of Roanoke intriguing, so three stars may be too generous.

My daughter (age 8) liked the lead-in to the story about how the girl is trying to be a detective with her notebook and timeline, but it left me feeling a little cheated since we aren't introduced to the father (at least not in this volume, I haven't seen the others) and the girl's character is not fleshed out at all. There is nothing really personalized about her "notebook," and realistically, it's nothing like a notebook a girl would actually keep.

After the girl-detective's introduction, we delve into the story of Roanoke, but then almost immediately, the very next page, we get hit with the glossary words and the "notebook" sidebars. I found them to be distracting as an adult reader, and the notebook completely derailed my daughter off the narrative. The effect is really "busy"--- too much information, some of which is important, some which is less important or redundant, so the reader is encouraged to skip much of the content. The illustrations are not interesting enough (according to my daughter and I agree) to pull you back into the narrative.
I like the ending, how the book encourages the reader to discuss theories on what happened to the lost colony; however, I don't see other kids making it that far through the book. I know my daughter didn't.

Another thing, this is an odd observation, but rather important... the typeface is difficult to read. The font size is huge, with just a few words on each line, but the columns aren't justified like a newspaper column and sentences are broken up oddly. Especially with having so many sidebars on each page, the main text is discouraging for the grade level targeted because of the ill-conceived visual presentation.