Author : Jane Yolen, Illustrator : David Shannon, Translator : Alma Flor Ada
Preschool - 2nd Grade
Encuentro
Encounter
Encuentro,
Softcover, Spanish, Book, Jane Yolen,
David Shannon, Alma Flor
Ada,
Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780152013424, $7.00
Encounter, Softcover, English, Book, Jane
Yolen,
David Shannon, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780152013899, $7.00
$95.92 for the Translation Books by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 16 Softcover Spanish Books and 1 Boardbook
The story of arrival in the Americas, as seen through the eyes of a young indigenous boy. An excellent springboard for reflection and discussion .(3-5)
Listen to Vienna Rose read Encounter to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.
Publishers Weekly :
PW's starred review described this "stirring" book as a look at the
dark underside of Christopher Columbus's adventure. "The message is blunt
but the language in which it is couched is vintage Yolen, lyrical and
impassioned. Shannon's visionary style is an ideal complement." Also
available in a Spanish-language edition, Encuentro ($6, -201342-3). Ages 6-12.
School Library Journal : Grade 2 - 5-- Readers weary of materials celebrating
Columbus and his voyages will be refreshed and intrigued by this
thought-provoking picture book. The imaginative story examines the first meeting
between Columbus and the indigenous peoples of San Salvador (the Taino) through
the eyes of a young native boy. The unnamed narrator has been warned in an
ominous dream that the strangers may bring trouble to his people. His concerns
are ignored, however, and the Taino greet their guests with customary feasting
and gifts, only to be repaid by the abduction of several of their young people.
Taken among the captives, the boy escapes and slowly makes his way home, trying
to convince others along the way that the Spanish pose a threat, but to no
avail. Yolen acknowledges in an author's note that no record of the Tainos'
reaction to Columbus's arrival is available; this account is instead an
evocative imagining of how things might have been. The haunting story is
perfectly complemented by Shannon's powerful acrylic paintings. He mentions
that, in fact, the Taino did not wear clothing, but feels that his decision to
clothe them does not interfere with the plausibility or effectiveness of his
presentation. A book that offers readers an alternative perspective on a
well-known and much-celebrated historical event.
Kirkus
Reviews : A poignant account of Columbus's landfall in the Americas, from a
Taino boy's point of view. After a terrible prophetic dream, the lad begs his
elders not to welcome the strangers, but they disregard him. He sees how they
look at his people's gold; he temporarily becomes their captive; and at the end,
as an old man, he sadly notes: ``We lost our lands...we gave our souls to their
gods...our sons and daughters became their sons and daughters, no longer true
humans....'' Shannon's dark, richly colored paintings brilliantly capture the
story's emotion and the sense of worlds colliding; Europeans are rendered with a
rugged realism that strongly recalls the work of N.C. Wyeth, and the Native
Americans look like polished wooden figurines-- with the border between these
two realities shifting and changing. The author closes with a historical note,
while the illustrator ends with an apology for adding loincloths to his figures.
O tempora! O mores! (Picture book. 9-12)
Spanish
Translation Books by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel
Campoy :