Roberts+IRP

Summary:
Blood on the river was a very good book about Jamestown and a young boy. In the beginning, Samuel Collier, who was an about twelve-year-old boy with ratty brown hair, was living on the streets, for his mother had died after they were kicked out of their tenant house. He was sent to an orphanage because he tried to steal a locket that used to be his mother’s. After getting kicked out of the orphanage for fighting, Samuel was sent to “The New World”, or Virginia, with two other kids and the Reverend. In Virginia, Samuel helped the community a lot. When the settlers first arrived in Virginia, the fort they built had no palisade, for their first president, Mr. Wingfield, was a stubburn and selfish man. John Smmith suggested to build the palisade, but since Mr. Wingfield disliked him, his stubborness came into play, and none was built. After a short while of building houses and getting a colony established, the Indians launched several devestating attacks. Wingfield finally relented and built an enormous palisade. After trying to fight the Indians for a while, John Smith made peace with them; everyone was on good terms and were trading frequently. The settlers enjoyed having a trading source from which they could get plenty of food for a couple of copper beads, but they were soon to find out what it was like without that aid. The problem was as follows: Chief Powhatan named the settlers his subjects as an honor, since they were getting along. When King James found out about Chief Powhatan he wasn't told that Powhatan considered the colonists to be "his" people. James tried to honor Powhatan by giving //him// the rank of an English prince under himself. By this time John Smith was the new President, so he had to crown the chief. John knew it would stir trouble, not only because Powhatan considered himself superior, but also because he was an emperor; prince would be a relegation. In the end, he was right. Indians and Englishmen were fighting again. The book ends with the two forces still fighting and a new fort being built, for Jamestown was crowded. The new fort was much more comfortable, because it wasn't so crowded. Several days after the new fort was built, the Indians practically destroyed Jamestown. Samuel was safe after all, and "The New World" looked like it had some hope.

Rating:
I would rate thes book 9 out of ten, for it was very informative, exciting, and it was so good it felt like it was glued to my hands; I couldn't put it down. Another thing that I liked was that it was from the point of view of a kid my age, so I understood how he might feel.

Useful Links:
Click [|here]to find out out about the author, Elisa Carbone [|Click here for a great Jamestown website!]--This website was very useful to me when I had a question about Jamestown.