PICTURE BOOK - Christopher Newport, Jamestown Explorer - Sharon K. Solomon

Illustrated by Dan Bridy

2013, Pelican Publishing

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.0

My rating: 3.5

Endpapers: rust

Illustrations nicely compliment the story, leaving less white on many pages than some smaller publishers might have (yay!)

My comments:  I've always had a fascination with the mysterious histories of Roanoke and Jamestown, even visiting each several times.  This picture book tells the story of Christopher Newport - who after years of being a privateer (PIRATE!), was hired by the Virginia Company to be the commander of the three ships - the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery - which were to be the founders of the first permanent settlement in America: Jamestown.  According to this, Captain John Smith was a passenger and somewhat of a troublemaker, not particularly the captain/leader that my memory of history seems to make him out to be.  But, alas, since I now have more questions about these two men and their parts in this history,I now have the desire to look into things a bit more and read anew.....

Goodreads:  Christopher Newport made history when he founded the first British colony in America. Discover how the young lad from Harwich, England, came to command three ships destined to reach the New World. This biography takes readers on Newport's adventures of the high seas, full of sword fights, exotic foods, and shipwrecks. Join him on the journey to America, the quest for the elusive Northwest Passage to China, and beyond.
          In 1857, Sir Francis Drake hired Newport to capture Spanish ships and bring treasures back to England. After ten years as a privateer, Newport was chosen by King James to command three ships owned by the Virginia Company. On this voyage, Newport and his crew changed the world by founding Jamestown, the first successful English-speaking colony in America.