Pocahontas

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-This greatly abbreviated biography depicts selected episodes in Pocahontas's life. The text consists primarily of short lists of facts. Though a note at the end of the book mentions that the princess was captured by the English and held for ransom, readers are told nothing about how she may have felt about her stay in London, or whether she missed her people and way of life. The large, richly colored and detailed colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations are skillfully rendered and create a strong sense of time and place. After the brief narrative, the authors provide drawings of Powhatan Indians, a longhouse, a canoe, and an English soldier, along with diagrams to help readers duplicate them. However, the complexity of the drawings require upper-grade skills, and children of that age will want to choose among the many more complete and fulfilling texts available.-Alexandra Marris, Rochester Public Library, NY