The Corn Raid: A Story of the Jamestown Settlement

This is a wonderful hist. fic. bk that will serve many purposes in a classroom. Collier hasn't disappointed us yet, has he? There are solid underlying themes of friendship, trust, ambivalence in the face of duty and 'right,' and so on. There are 2 boys and a girl in main roles, so both genders are happy reading it. Accurate, of course, historically. No down-talking, no pie-in-the-sky, no frippery. Several of my 5th graders (both genders, widely varied in ability) read it and ALL of them loved it. Engrossing, somber, realistic story, very believable characters. We will be using it as a class book.

& #65279;The story took place during the time of the Jamestown Settlement, around 1607. The main character was a boy named Richard. He was a servant along with Susan to a guy named Laydon. One day when Richard was working in the tobacco field, he saw something moving in the woods. He went to see what is was and he found an Indian boy stealing his hoe. Richard chased him as he called for Laydon. When he caught up with him, the two boys started threatening each other. As they were about to attack, Laydon came and stopped them. The Indian boy, named Weetoppin, was looking for food and Laydon and Richard took him home and fed him. Laydon decided to keep him as a servant. The next day Weetoppin's father showed up and signed him as an indentured servant to Laydon. Richard wondered why Weetoppin's dad signed the paper. He later found out that Weetoppin had killed an Indian boy and was to be put to death. He ran away, and could not go back home. Richard also began to wonder if there was an indenture paper on him. Laydon wanted to see if the Weyanocks had corn, and where it is. So he had Richard dress up as an Indian; and Richard and Weetoppin went to look for the corn. They found the corn in a hut. Then the Weyanocks started chasing them. Weetoppin and Richard started swimming across the James River. It was thundering and lightening, and Richard wanted to reach the other side before he got struck by lightening; but Weetoppin saw something and told Richard to hold up. Richard refused and was caught by the Paspahegh Indians; but Weetoppin couldn't be found. The Chief, a former Englishman, and his braves threatened to torture Richard if he didn't tell them where the Weyanocks kept their corn. Richard led them to the corn hut. After the indians took their share of the corn, the braves wanted to kill Richard, but the English chief talked them out of it. Instead, they tied him to a tree and left him for the Weyanocks to find. Weetoppin came and freed him and they started back up the James River towards home. When Laydon and Weetoppin were delivering tobacco in Jamestown where the ships docked, Spoffard's black servant came to Richard and asked for Laydon. Richard said he wasn't home. The servants orders were to give a letter to Laydon, but he gave it to Richard because he could not wait any longer for Laydon to come home. Susan read it to Richard because he couldn't read or write, and it said,"I scheduled a raid on the Weyanocks for Thursday." Richard then told Weetoppin about the letter and the raid. In the middle of the night, Weetoppin snuck out and told his father about the raid on the corn. Richard then told Weetoppin that he had to tell Laydon so the English wouldn't be ambushed by the Weyanocks. Weetoppin said they couldn't be friends anymore and he walked away. Laydon said he was going to Spoffards and prepare for the raid, that's when Richard told him that the Weyanocks knew about it and they were prepared t

I teach 5th grade in Washington, DC. My students and I study American History from European exploration to the writing of the Constitution. This year I found a copy of Corn Raid and read it aloud to my class. They loved it! Not only did the story validate facts they'd gathered doing research on Jamestown, but the plot kept them very engaged. They're still talking about it months later. In fact, just yesterday they asked if we could write to Mr. Collier and ask if he'd consider a sequel about the protagonist. This is a great book if you're trying to teach about life in the early 17th Century. It contains believable characters with a connection to history. I found that even the students who approach social studies with reticence enjoyed this book. I encourage teachers to use it in class, or give it as gifts to family and friends!