Sewall, Marcia. James Towne: Struggle for Survival. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. ISBN: 978-0-689-81814-1.
Author website: None.
Illustrator website: None.
Media: Watercolor and Sepia Ink
Awards: CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book;
Parents' Choice Award
Curricular Connection: California History / Social Science, Grade 5, California Standard: 5.4: Students learn about the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the James Towne colony (such as John, Smith), understand the influence of location and physical setting of the colony, and be able to identify the location of the colony and the American Indian tribes inhabiting the area.
Annotation: Sewall provides a narrative account of the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia, including John Smith’s role in the colony’s development and the difficult early years of life in the new world.
Personal Reaction: Sewall engages and educates readers with this detailed account of the difficulty of James Towne’s establishment and early years, experienced through diary-like entries by one of the colony’s settlers. Dated accounts before and after entries keep the story on track and the pacing steady while the narrator’s personal reflections lend credit and personality to historic events. Each entry is followed by a quote from an actual James Towne’s colonist, providing context to the events described, as well as allowing for readers to connect and empathize with colonists. The story starts with James Towne’s own beginnings as an idea formed in England: three ships depart the country, after which the journey to the Americas and its hardships are documented, and then the founding and building of the colony is explored. Sewall looks at aspects of early colonial life that are generally overlooked by school books and for which this story could easily supplement the curriculum: hardships beyond interacting with the natives and the new land, such as the people England continued to send over to live in the colony despite James Towne’s struggle to care for its current inhabitants, and the reliance these colonists continued to have on their home country despite having lived in the new world for several years. Life after John Smith is also highlighted, and how the colony almost perished. Sewall provides a list of the story’s characters at the book’s end and a glossary of terms at the back of the book.
