The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689

The American Story #3

by Betsy Maestro, Giulio Maestro (Illustrator)

This ongoing series introduces our country's history to young readers in an appealing picture-book format. Clear, simple texts combine with informative, accurate illustrations to help young people develop an understanding of America's past and present. The New Americans is the story of the colonists -- the more than two hundred thousand new Americans -- who came over from Europe and struggled to build a home for themselves in a new world.

Genres: History, American History, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Geography, Childrens, Thanksgiving

Paperback

First published March 19, 1998

About the author

Before beginning her career in children's books, Betsy Maestro was a teacher. Her first book with Giulio Maestro was A Wise Monkey Tale published in 1975, and since then they have collaborated on more than one hundred books. Their on-going American Story series began with the highly acclaimed The Discovery of the Americas and continues to help young readers understand and appreciate our nations history.

The Maestros live with two cats and a goldfish in a converted cow barn in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very detailed and packed with more information than I needed for my 2nd grader, but I learned a lot. I appreciated the balanced view of the Native Americans and the Europeans - they both did good and bad things to each other. The illustrations are well done; however, they are too graphic for younger children in my opinion on pages 20-21 and 34-35 (blood, dead bodies, people in the act of killing each other). Maybe better for ages 9+.

My curiosity was kindled about how Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson worshiped differently from the Puritans and I want to learn more specifics.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of colonial America. It of course paints a pretty picture of the Christian indoctrination of Natives, which I would teach around. It thankfully is realistic about Natives facing unequal treatment and gives in depth accuracy of tribe names.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The picture book format makes this book a good read aloud for pre-readers, or independent read for beginning readers. Sections are short enough for brief attention spans, and colorful illustrations make it a nice review for older kids and even adults.

Overall, it is a good, solid, book. Not fantastically memorable, but a reliable starting point for learning.

[Brittany Isbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great and definitely whitewashed but also good information and makes an effort to not be completely garbage

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author/illustrator team (and husband and wife) Betsy and Giulio Maestro return to the saga of American history in this third installment of their picture book series, The American Story. Having chronicled the discovery of the Americas from ancient times to 1500 in the first volume, and the further exploration of the continents in the second, they turn in this volume to the colonial period of the 17th century. They cover mostly North America in their history, chronicling the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, the founding of New Amsterdam and the New Netherlands colonies, the arrival of the Puritans and their founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Connecticut colony and Rhode Island. Also covered are the founding of the Maryland colony and the early years of Catholic-Protestant conflict there, and the creation of the New Sweden settlements in what is now Delaware. The growing tensions between these new colonies and the native peoples is discussed, with coverage given to The Pequot War of the 1630s, the Beaver Wars of the 1640s, and King Philip's War of the 1670s. The growth of trade and industry, and of English settlement is discussed, and the founding of the Pennsylvania Colony by the Quaker William Penn. La Salle's voyage down the Mississippi, and the growing tensions between the French and English colonies closes out the book, with extensive back matter giving more information about Colonial America and the Exploration and Explorers...

Published in 1998, The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689 is a worthy follow-up to its two predecessors— The Discovery of the Americas and Exploration and Conquest: The Americas After Columbus: 1500-1620 —covering a wide range of events and places, and tying it all together in an engaging way. I appreciate the fact that the Maestros don't leave out the less admirable parts of American history, from slavery to conflicts with indigenous peoples, but also don't focus exclusively or predominately on those themes, as I feel would most likely be done today if a similar book were published. When it comes to the history of the colonial period in North America, my memory is that far more attention was paid to the 18th century, when I myself was in school—the French and Indian War and then the Revolution—and less to the 17th, with the notable exception of the Pilgrims at Plymouth and the first Thanksgiving, so I think this volume is a necessary and helpful addition to the larger history project being undertaken in these books. I'll have to see if I can find titles specifically on topics like the Beaver Wars or King Philip's War, or the early history of Maryland and Delaware, as I don't recall coming across very many. The accompanying artwork here from Giulio Maestro is engaging, with lots going on on each two-page spread. I think this could make an excellent basic text for this subject, when teaching children—both in a classroom and homeschool setting—and could be used with other titles that cover specific topics—the various 17th-century American wars, the conflicts between different European nations' colonies in this century—in order to expand on what it presented here. It is for that purpose that I would recommend it.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent overview of the Americas and early European settlers. One one hand, I'm not sure young kids need to know all the disagreements but on the other hand I appreciate that it shows all sides were sometimes at fault. It doesn't touch on how fundamental views of land and ownership contributed to the issues though. Some times it wasn't intentional, it was a clash of cultures and genuine misunderstanding with sad consequences. The pictures are well done and are a good aide to the text. There was one spread focusing on warfare that I would rather not be there, but even that wasn't too graphic for my young kids. Definitely a keeper for our personal library.

I did not know this was part of a series when I acquired it and I will be looking up the other books in it

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really coming to appreciate the work that the Maestro's have done with their picture books for children. They are well written, cover a surprising amount of facts without reading like a text book, and are wonderfully illustrated.

Ages: 6 - 12

Cleanliness: a few pictures of natives wearing only loincloths.

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[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in Betsy Maestro's American Story series. It was an interesting time in the history of this continent - there was a lot going on and all setting the stage for the future conflict, but also nothing of huge significance. Because of that, this book felt like it rambled a bit more than the prior two books of the series. While reading this book to my kids, we covered the topics over more sessions just to make sure their eyes didn't gloss over and as much as possible, I tried to pull in additional information to make the stories more relevant (LaSalle street in Chicago, Marquette University in Milwaukee, trading posts were like the gas stations of the day...)

[Michelle Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this as an early American history book for this period for my 4th grader. Much preferred this to This Country of Ours, though it doesn’t dive as deep, it is more lively and I felt like I got more out of it. (And it was better suited to my current 4th grader to read alone with all the illustrations.) I plan to continue this series for the time periods available.

[Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid introduction to a bunch of the topics and people for the time period. The writing isn't super engaging, but the illustrations are lovely. It's a good jumping off point. Due to the glut of info and the way it's presented, I think this book is best for grades 4+ (younger kids will probably be lost with too many details and too much vocab. and situations, etc.).

[Kate Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are fantastic, but overall, it’s a boring read. Although it isn’t very engaging, I will say it does give readers a lot of great information. The simplistic nature of this book makes it very easy to read and understand. Overall, this book can be useful in a 4th grade classroom when teaching about the 13 colonies!

[Laurie Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, this picture book details the settling of the original 13 colonies of America.

[Odessa Poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really think this book is great when teaching students about the Colonial era in America. It gives many details and talks about Native Americans and colonists.

[Augoustine Andreou · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Americans is a great picture-story book for young children to read as an introduction to the United States history. Its clear and simple text helps children develop a connection and understanding of America’s past and present. The accurate and informative illustrations allows children to visually understand what the author has written.

[Valerie Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great picture book that talks about the colonial times. This will help other cultures understand immigration

[Amy Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like using this book as a springboard to our other reading about the thirteen colonies. My kids enjoy the illustrations especially.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok it The Discoveries Of The Americas was easier to read and comprehend probably because there was much more coin on in this one. :)

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series

[sch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Homeschool book. Fair-minded, European-wide focus, attractive and detailed illustrations.

[Debye]

Interesting series on American History for kids. I like it.

[Kate]

This is great series for early American history. (The American Story Series by Betsy Maestro)

Narrative style non-fiction provides a broad overview of the different European groups settling in the New World, their motivations, and their relationships with each other, the home countries, and the Native Americans. Covers topics such as building of settlements, expansion of territories, Indian Wars, religious conflict and freedom, trade, slavery, and colonial laws. Very detailed illustrations and accessible maps.