The Delaware Colony

Like all of Fradin's books, this one is well written, informative, and interesting. My children both enjoyed listening to this as we studied colonial times, and liked the well chosen black and white illustrations. We especially enjoy the quotes from writings of the period at the start of each chapter, as they give a flavor for how real people of the time viewed things. We have read other accounts of Henry Hudson which seemed to include more information about his earlier life than the biographical sketch in this book, while Fradin states that little is known, but it is difficult to know for certain who is giving the correct information, as conjecture often gets labeled as fact in history books. The section on Hudson is only a one-page excerpt from the book anyway. We greatly appreciate the way this author makes information understandable to children through wise use of vocabulary, but never 'talks down' to them, and includes enough complex terminology to stretch their comprehension of history.