Michelle Parkhurst (Children's Literature)
Samuel Collier was an orphan, abandoned to the streets of London, England, in 1606. In trouble with the law, he was sent aboard the ship the Susan Constant as punishment. Sam was assigned to be a page for Captain John Smith, a voyager to the New World. Aboard this voyage, Smith began teaching the unruly boy that to survive in the New World, he must make friends and stop relying on his fists. The book walks the reader through Samuel’s experiences--ones that settlers actually faced in the 1600s: the long, harsh voyage across the Atlantic; power struggles and politics between the gentlemen and the commoners; unrelenting physical conditions; death and disease; interaction with the Native Americans; and many more. As a dynamic, round character, Samuel learns how to survive in the New World with the help of John Smith, his relationships with the Indians and with the other settlers. The beginning of each chapter features actual historical passages from John Smith or other important figures of this time, validating the historical context of the book. This novel creates a gripping tale of the lives and struggles of the settlers of the New World in the 1600s and will serve both as a beneficial teaching tool within the classroom in American history and as an entertaining novel. 2006, Viking Children’s Books, $16.99. Ages 8 to 12.

Evan Wheeler (Children's Literature)
A twelve year-old boy named Samuel Collier must change his poverty-stricken lifestyle when he is caught stealing. Samuel escapes the gallows when a compassionate magistrate removes him from jail and leaves him in the care of Reverend Hunt, an orphanage operator. Samuel becomes Captain John Smith’s page and departs on an adventurous journey to Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The plot tells of the encounters and mishaps the young page experiences in the New World alongside Reverend Hunt, Captain John Smith, Richard, and the gentlemen of the Virginia Company. Under the care and guidance of Captain Smith, Samuel changes his way of life in response to the landscape, the Indians, and other colonists who share his fate. His daily accounts of the New World are packed with historical references. Some of these references include names of the ships, significant dates, and people such as Pocahontas. The novel teaches how compassion for others proves advantageous in the long run. At one point, Sam says: “I see what Captain Smith meant about needing to stand on many legs to survive. We have to work together. I would never be able to build a house all by myself.” This novel will help students understand the historical hardships the colonists endured while settling in an unknown land. Carbone effectively mixes fact and fiction by telling of a fictional character in a non-fictional setting. Since Samuel narrates the story, readers get a snapshot of history but with a unique twist. 2006, Viking Juvenile, $16.99. Ages 9 to 12.

Kathleen Isaacs (Children's Literature)
Plucked from an orphanage to serve Captain John Smith on his voyage to the New World, eleven-year-old Samuel Collier finds that the aggressive energy that served him well on London’s streets is equally helpful for surviving the rigors of the Atlantic crossing and England’s new colony on the Virginia shores. From his new master he learns that the independence he once prized is less valuable than the ability to get along with others, to work together to accomplish difficult tasks. Closely based on historical fact, this story of the early years of the James Town Colony comes to life through the eyes of this engaging character. Written in response to teacher requests, this is not simply supplemental curricular material. Carbone paces her story well, creating dramatic suspense and a clear sense of place through the use of vivid sensory detail. The irony of Samuel’s early fear of native “cannibals” is made clear in the afterword, in which we learn that while Samuel was surviving the winter of 1609 in relative safety at Point Comfort, using some of the survival skills he learned from Powhatan Indians, those who remained at James Town were digging up graves for food. This is an adventure story, a coming-of-age story, and living history. In a concluding note the author describes her research and appends a list of sources. Entertaining and informative, this is a welcome addition to any historical fiction collection. 2006, Viking, $16.99. Ages 10 to 14.

Naomi Milliner (Children's Literature)
Subtitled “James Town 1607,” the story follows its 11-year-old hero, Samuel Collier, from grimy London to the untainted Virginia shore. A tough, spunky orphan, Samuel is rescued from hanging by kindly Reverend Hunt, who declares him Captain John Smith’s page for the journey to the New World. Accustomed to self-reliance, and trusting no one, Samuel initially antagonizes the other boys his age and resents Smith’s orders. By the time they reach Virginia five months later, he respects Smith, trusts the reverend, and befriends the boys. Along with his fellow colonists, Samuel endures hunger, sickness, and other hardships. He also witnesses the roller-coaster relationship with the Indians, who at different times attack the colonists, save them, teach them, and attack them again. Samuel learns their language and ways, and he and Smith truly embrace them. Tragically, the fragile peace they establish is destroyed by others’ ignorance and stubbornness. Following an alleged accident, Smith is badly injured and returns to England, releasing Samuel from his duties and apprenticing him to a kindly carpenter. Combining Reverend Hunt’s love with Smith’s courage, Samuel risks his life to save the carpenter, his wife, and their baby girl, leaving James Town behind and starting a new colony. Skillfully blending historic figures like Pocahontas, writings from Smith and others, tremendous research, and vivid storytelling, this is an outstanding read for middle grade and up. As entertaining as it is educational, peopled with compelling characters and exciting plot twists, this book belongs on every shelf. 2006, Viking/Penguin, $16.99. Ages 11 to 15.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 7))
Lucky to escape the gallows but doomed to servitude in the New World, young Samuel Collier instead finds adventure and a chance to remake himself, away from the streets and orphanages he has known. Carbone frames her story of the Jamestown settlement by the Powhatan prophecy foretelling the destruction of the Powhatan kingdom. The clash of cultures bringing about that destruction is well portrayed, as is the personal class between the gentlemen of the Virginia Company and the commoner Captain John Smith. Good use is made of eyewitness accounts in a telling that far transcends the usual dry textbook summaries of the period. While learning much history, readers will find characters real enough to care about: Ten-year-old Pocahontas racing naked through the center of the fort, Samuel mastering the bow and arrow and shooting his first rabbit, the magic of a New World masquerade in Pocahontas's village, where Samuel sits next to a princess. Lively historical fiction at its best. (afterword, author's note, acknowledgments, sources) 2006, Viking, 256p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 10. Starred Review. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Janis Flint-Ferguson (KLIATT Review, May 2006 (Vol. 40, No. 3))
Carbone has drawn from journals and letters from historical archives and written them into the story of Samuel Collier, a young man who accompanied Captain John Smith to the New World. Samuel's back-story is fictional but believable, giving voice to the details of the ocean crossing, the class struggles in the colony and the first hard years of the Virginia Company colony. Through Samuel and his telling of the story, the historical characters are given personality while the descriptions of the natives and the environment help explain the possibilities that the company saw in the New World. As a servant to Captain Smith, Samuel is able to tell the true story of Smith, Powhatan and Pocahontas. Like Smith, Samuel learns to trust the native people, to learn their language and to work sensitively with them in an attempt to maintain a fragile balance between two diverse cultures. The distrust that eventually leads to the bloodshed is not romanticized and the blame for early genocide is equally distributed between colonists and natives. The Author's Note at the end lays out Carbone's choices of events and vocabulary. She also cites the original documents used in her research, which are quoted at the beginning of chapters. This will be a good resource for the teaching of early colonies, showing both the successes and the failures of the early Europeans as they colonized the New World. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: J--Recommended for junior high school students. 2006, Penguin, Viking, 256p. bibliog., $16.99. Ages 12 to 15.

Maggie Elliott (Library Media Connection, January 2007)
Samuel Collier, an orphan and a page to Captain John Smith, narrates this intriguing story set in 1607 Jamestown. Told from the youth's point of view, this historical novel shows not only what the journey to the New World was like and how the colony functioned, but also the different perspectives of the new settlers and native peoples. Primary sources are integrated into the beginning of each chapter, giving the people and events in the book an unusually authentic feel. The attention to historical details will engage those who truly enjoy historical fiction but may slow down other readers who are simply looking for an adventure story. The real Jamestown is the heart of this story, which is well researched with extensive historic notes at the end of the book This is historical fiction at its best for upper elementary and middle school readers. Highly Recommended. 2006, Viking Children's Books (Penguin Young Readers Group), 256pp., $16.99 hc. Ages 9 to 14.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2006)
This readable historical novel is set during Jamestown colony's early years and told by Captain Smith's servant, a poor, unruly boy who is given the unexpected chance to better himself in the New World. Carbone explores themes of leadership, equality, and new beginnings with an even hand and solid documentation. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2006, Viking, 244pp, 16.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Mary E. Heslin (VOYA, August 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 3))
This meticulously researched novel depicts the early history of Virginia's Jamestown colony from the viewpoint of Captain John Smith's eleven-year-old page, Samuel Collier. Carbone creates Samuel, a historical figure of unknown origin, as a London orphan convicted of thievery but saved from the gallows by a good-hearted magistrate who gives him into the care of the kindly Reverend Hunt. Hunt later passes Samuel on to Smith when Hunt, with the aim of bringing Christianity to the natives, joins the Jamestown expedition. Under the harsh colonial conditions and with mentoring from Smith and Hunt, Samuel, the street-tough loner, learns the value of cooperation and, in the end, risks his life to save those he has come to love. The characters are sufficiently well drawn to sustain reader interest in the plot, but it is the portrayal of colonial life that is the book's primary strength. Young readers will relish hearing of the slop buckets and vomit in the ship's hold and the exhumation and consumption of corpses by starving settlers. The "gentleman" colonists' rejection of manual labor, the fruitless search for gold, the stupid treatment of the native population, and the Virginia Company's efforts to ensure that no word of New World hardships reaches England, possibly discouraging the labor flow, all engage the imagination. School and public libraries will find that this book circulates best among historical fiction buffs and the cover, two feather-bedecked braves spying on the colony, may also attract adventure fans, especially boys. VOYA CODES: 4Q 2P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Viking, 256p., $16.99. Ages 11 to 15.