Roanoke

"Roanoke: The Story of the Lost Colony" tells the story of the events surrounding the founding and mysterious disappearance of the first English settlement in the New World. Written for younger students, Peter I. Bosco begins as all books about Roanoke begin, with John White returning three years after he left the colony only to discover the settlement abandoned and the only clue left: the word "CROATOAN" carved on a tree. You have to begin with the end, because that particular story is one of the great hooks in the history of Colonial America. But Bosco is also setting the stage for one of the great mysteries of American history as well, so it is important to lay out all the clues because part of the fun in reading this book is to make your own guess as to what really happened. As White prepares to sail back to Croatoan island to investigate, Bosco goes back to the very beginning of the Roanoke story to tell how Sir Walter Raleigh sent ships to the New World to establish a colony in what was then known as Virginia, named so in honor of Queen Elizabeth of England. Bosco then details the establishment of the colony, in terms of the settlement, its politics, relations with the natives, and most importantly its attempts to survive. One of the things that makes this an excellent juvenile history is that the volume is illustrated with artwork from "America 1585: The Complete Drawings of John White." These drawings of the Indians and the colony are, of course, utterly fascinating since we are talking about artwork done by an eyewitness, not to mention a key figure in the Roanoke story. Bosco does the artwork justice, combining evidence from a number of scholarly works to retell the story of the Roanoke colony for younger readers. This is a superb juvenile history. Bosco keeps the sense of mystery alive concluding the book with the inability of White to get back to Croatoan island because of a storm. White never saw America again and book concludes with Bosco outlining the theory that has gained the widest acceptance in terms of answering the question of what happened to the Roanoke colonists, and the establishment of the new colony at Jamestown, what would now be known as the first permanent English colony in the New World. The Spotlight on American History series highlights vital moments in U.S. history, placing events such as the Salem witchcraft trials against a backdrop of the people, places, and time that made them possible. However, the standard for the series has been set pretty high by excellent Bosco's book.