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Who Was . . . ? Series
Who Was Christopher Columbus?
Learn all about Christopher Columbus' early life at sea, which led him to seek fortune by sailing west in hopes of creating new trade routes with the Indies. Kids will read about why he called himself the "Great Admirald of the Seas" and learn of all his struggles to find finacial support for his voyage.
111 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 27, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
July 17, 2024
Who Was ...? biography series for middle grade brings the adventures figure of Christopher Columbus who found the New World and never knew it.
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. Genoa was a busy port on the Mediterranean Sea. With his brother, he loved going to the docks and watching all the ships bringing goods from faraway places. He dreamed of becoming a famous sea captain.
He started sailing at the age of fifteen. It took him to Lisbon where he opened a business with his brother, making maps. Based on the information gathered from captains at the docs he created maps. At the map store, he heard merchants talking about finding a new route from Europe to Indies. This became his dream.
His dream was also enforced by the stories he read about Marco Polo’s travels from Italy to China, and was fascinated by them. No one from Europe was able to sail east to Indies as the route was too long. They all came back. Thus, he wanted to sail west to Indies, but people laughed at him. So he read book after book to gather as much information as possible.
Now, he needed the money for his dream adventure. After a few refusals, the king and queen of Spain granted him money. He was already forty-one which was considered old for such voyage. After gathering three ships, crew and supplies, they sailed on August 3, 1492.
On October 12, 1492, they landed at Bahamas. Within the next few weeks, they explored the islands for gold, but there was very little of it.
On January 4, 1493, they headed home. Despite the little gold he brought, he was welcomed as a hero. His next three trips turned unsuccessful in finding gold.
Columbus died on May 20, 1506 believing that he found a sea route to the Indies. He didn’t find gold; instead he found a whole new world.
This biography embodies true nature of an explorer, a man who was curious about the world and craved to discover something new.
This illustrated biography series for young readers, ages 7-10, is presented in a relatable way, with simple sentences and enriched with insightful inserts.
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. Genoa was a busy port on the Mediterranean Sea. With his brother, he loved going to the docks and watching all the ships bringing goods from faraway places. He dreamed of becoming a famous sea captain.
He started sailing at the age of fifteen. It took him to Lisbon where he opened a business with his brother, making maps. Based on the information gathered from captains at the docs he created maps. At the map store, he heard merchants talking about finding a new route from Europe to Indies. This became his dream.
His dream was also enforced by the stories he read about Marco Polo’s travels from Italy to China, and was fascinated by them. No one from Europe was able to sail east to Indies as the route was too long. They all came back. Thus, he wanted to sail west to Indies, but people laughed at him. So he read book after book to gather as much information as possible.
Now, he needed the money for his dream adventure. After a few refusals, the king and queen of Spain granted him money. He was already forty-one which was considered old for such voyage. After gathering three ships, crew and supplies, they sailed on August 3, 1492.
On October 12, 1492, they landed at Bahamas. Within the next few weeks, they explored the islands for gold, but there was very little of it.
On January 4, 1493, they headed home. Despite the little gold he brought, he was welcomed as a hero. His next three trips turned unsuccessful in finding gold.
Columbus died on May 20, 1506 believing that he found a sea route to the Indies. He didn’t find gold; instead he found a whole new world.
This biography embodies true nature of an explorer, a man who was curious about the world and craved to discover something new.
This illustrated biography series for young readers, ages 7-10, is presented in a relatable way, with simple sentences and enriched with insightful inserts.
December 1, 2022
Christopher Columbus can be viewed in one of two ways, 1: an Explorer who opened the New World to Europe. or 2: A heartless Slave Trader who did what he Did for His Own Gain. That's what I Found out with this Book.
October 7, 2015
The good news is that there is a decent amount of accuracy in this book. It's hard to find solid and accurate Columbus books. Columbus is a highly mythologized figure in the US. This book DOES emphasize how obsessed he was with gold and that this drove everything Columbus did. It also mentions that he took Taino people as slaves and there is a passing mention of charging the Taino people a tribute.
HOWEVER - these truths are painted as side issues and are very glossed over. In reality, Columbus actively facilitated the mass murder and mutilation of native people.
I have two other pet peeves about this book:
1. The constant reference to "discovering" land
2. The illustrations of smiling, peaceful, no-worries native people, including those who are slaves.
HOWEVER - these truths are painted as side issues and are very glossed over. In reality, Columbus actively facilitated the mass murder and mutilation of native people.
I have two other pet peeves about this book:
1. The constant reference to "discovering" land
2. The illustrations of smiling, peaceful, no-worries native people, including those who are slaves.
September 8, 2021
Next installment in my children's history book series. I learned some things about good ol' Christopher Columbus I didn't know before. If you have kids, these books are really a great idea. They have illustrations too....
April 26, 2018
106 pages. Another really good biography. I learned a few things I did not know about Columbus. There was a great timeline at the end and additional one-page articles of other explorers of his time throughout the book. Kids will enjoy this one. Highly recommended Grades 4-5.
December 11, 2016
The book Who Was Christopher Columbus? by Bonnie Bader is an informational, interesting biography about the story of Christopher Columbus and how he lived all of his life. This book contained a lot of detail and it got me interested in this book. This book told about how Christopher Columbus always loved the sea and always wanted to become a sailor. When he grew to be a man, he asked the king and queen if he could go sailing to the Indies to try to find many treasures. Of course, the king and queen said no. Then he asked the king and queen of France. Even though Christopher Columbus told them that he would give them 9/10 of the treasure that he found, the king and queen still said no. What would Columbus do to make his dream come true?
January 14, 2016
I thought this book was Interesting. These series of ''Who Was'' are really fun to read because you could learn Interesting facts on people you have heard of but don't know much on them. So when you read the series you can just learn some more information on these people and what there famous for. Like in this book Who Was Christopher Columbus? like that he thought he had sailed to the Indies but actually had sailed to America but never Knew it.
August 16, 2023
BOOOOOO COLONIZER
December 4, 2016
Basically Columbus sounds like an arrogant prick.
I felt like the author was trying to be "fair," but I think she sided a bit too much on the side of honoring him. It came across as "Then Columbus took the natives captive and made them slaves. That silly Columbus."
Reading between the white-washed lines, here's what I got:
*Columbus wants to be famous and doesn't care who he walks over to get there.
*He gets married to some poor girl who he only marries because she has ties to the king of Portugal.
*When the king says "No" he leaves his son and heads to another country.
*He spends years trying to meet with a king to get financed. (Instead of, you know, actually trying to earn the money himself.)
*He throws a little temper tantrum and depends titles when he doesn't get his way.
*The King and Queen give in because they want gold too.
*Columbus sets off with a bunch of cutthroats and convicts.
*They land on "India" and immediately start taking from the natives. Demanding gold.
*Columbus spends his whole life throwing temper tantrums, bullying native people, and taking things that don't belong to him.
I really don't like Columbus. I still gave the book 3 stars because the author had a hard job trying to write a book about an asshole that was appropriate for children.
I felt like the author was trying to be "fair," but I think she sided a bit too much on the side of honoring him. It came across as "Then Columbus took the natives captive and made them slaves. That silly Columbus."
Reading between the white-washed lines, here's what I got:
*Columbus wants to be famous and doesn't care who he walks over to get there.
*He gets married to some poor girl who he only marries because she has ties to the king of Portugal.
*When the king says "No" he leaves his son and heads to another country.
*He spends years trying to meet with a king to get financed. (Instead of, you know, actually trying to earn the money himself.)
*He throws a little temper tantrum and depends titles when he doesn't get his way.
*The King and Queen give in because they want gold too.
*Columbus sets off with a bunch of cutthroats and convicts.
*They land on "India" and immediately start taking from the natives. Demanding gold.
*Columbus spends his whole life throwing temper tantrums, bullying native people, and taking things that don't belong to him.
I really don't like Columbus. I still gave the book 3 stars because the author had a hard job trying to write a book about an asshole that was appropriate for children.
February 18, 2016
The Who Was and Who Is books are great resources for upper elementary grades social studies topics. This particular book on Chistopher Columbus seems to line up fairly accurately with historical events. While it does gloss over the darker side of Columbus' voyage to the Americas, it does mention them. Many children's books on Columbus don't mention his greed or that he took natives as slaves.
This book walks readers through the life of Columbus from birth to death, it even includes a timeline of events at the end! It contains great black and white illustrations as well as inserts of other explorers as they are mentioned throughout the story.
This book is at a upper elementary reading level, however, the content and interest level can span lower elementary as well. Most of the pages contain illustrations which makes it a great read aloud or read to book for 1st-3rd graders. The inclusion of a timeline creates an opportunity to introduce the timeline concept to young learners, and can create extension activities for older readers.
This book walks readers through the life of Columbus from birth to death, it even includes a timeline of events at the end! It contains great black and white illustrations as well as inserts of other explorers as they are mentioned throughout the story.
This book is at a upper elementary reading level, however, the content and interest level can span lower elementary as well. Most of the pages contain illustrations which makes it a great read aloud or read to book for 1st-3rd graders. The inclusion of a timeline creates an opportunity to introduce the timeline concept to young learners, and can create extension activities for older readers.
September 26, 2018
This book is alright. And I think I'm saying this because I already know about and who Christopher Columbus is, I leaned a bit more about him. For example, his real name is Cristoforo Colombo, from Italy. And I think its impossible for me to ruin anything in the book for anyone else because this is a biography, and I think most of us know what Christopher Columbus did for some of us. If anything, this book is informational, I think it's pretty obvious. Anyway, the book, like I said before, alright. It was on the other hand pretty interesting. I don't know what to expect from a biography, they are all practically the same. I recommend this book to anyone above third grade or higher.
May 20, 2015
It was a good book because I learned a lot of things that I didn't know about Christopher Columbus. Like one of the things I learned that he went to jail. And he traveled the sea but I all ready knew that. Also he had 2 children I thought he was a crazy person who had nothing but one dream of finding the new world. Also his real name isn't Christopher Columbus. I don't remember what it is but it's close to his real name. But over all I liked it but some parts were a little boring.
March 24, 2015
I liked it even know we learned about him in school. There was new information from this book then there was in our textbooks. One thing new I learned about Chris was that he went to jail and told his sons when he does that he wanted to be buried with the chains he was equipped with in jail for 6 weeks. Very interesting guy!
November 18, 2022
Christopher Columbus' father was a weaver. He traded with many sailors who came into port. Christopher gained his desire to sail the seas from these captains and crew members. The book details his life as a captain and the many islands that he discovered. It is a good start for learning about his life.
April 27, 2017
This book was great because this book had the timeline of his life in the book every chapter is going by his timeline this book was great because in SS we are learning about him so now I learned so much more and new stuff about Christopher Columbus.
October 9, 2017
Good short bio on Columbus.
November 14, 2017
Biography. This book is part of a series that I think are very good for helping children learn about the great people in history. I would use this for grades 4 and up.
January 3, 2018
I like the book but I don't like Christopher Columbus. He was mean, he kidnaped Taino even though Taino gave him food and jewels. He was determined
February 4, 2018
Great youth fiction about Columbus. It was well-rounded, discussing both the positive and negative aspects.
March 21, 2018
This book is GREAT!!!! I love these books so much i can read 1 a day(true).!!! I recommend this book!!!
August 13, 2022
Perfect for latter end of primary and early middle school reading resource
April 14, 2021
Who Was Christopher Columbus? by Bonnie Bader and illustrated by Nancy Harrison is one of the books in the award-winning "Who Was..." series focused on the youth market of readers but also interesting for adults. This one is about the life of Christopher Columbus who is credited with discovering (accidently?) the new world of North and South America thinking he had indeed reached China and Japan by sailing west from Europe instead of by dangerous land routes or by sailing around the continent of Africa. After making additional crossings to the world he discovered, Columbus did not become the wealthy government ruler he had envisioned and, in fact, today's politically correct movement has pushed to do away with Columbus Day and portray him instead as a genocidal maniac who was focused on killing and enslaving the native populations.
This book is an inspiring and illustrated biography and is perfect for young middle-grade readers with Black-and-white line drawings throughout, sidebars on related topics, a timeline, and a bibliography to enhance readers' understanding of the subject. Written primarily for the youth market it is also an excellent way for anyone to get an overview about a specific famous individual or moment in history or as a quick refresher of basic facts if you've already read other books and just want a summary.
This book is an inspiring and illustrated biography and is perfect for young middle-grade readers with Black-and-white line drawings throughout, sidebars on related topics, a timeline, and a bibliography to enhance readers' understanding of the subject. Written primarily for the youth market it is also an excellent way for anyone to get an overview about a specific famous individual or moment in history or as a quick refresher of basic facts if you've already read other books and just want a summary.
November 26, 2015
1. Publisher: Penguin
Level: 3
2. 11/21 = 30 minutes; 11/24 = 20 minutes; 11/25 = 40 minutes.
3. Captain
Sail
West
Portugal
Wait
Spain
Gold
4.a. Colombus defende himself before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He told them he had brought back some treasure. (This was true.) And he had explored seven hundred islands. (This was an exaggeration!)
b. I liked these passages. He had promised the king and queen to bring back gold, but he failed. It was his second trip and so maybe he was aware something was wrong, but he still trusted himself. I thought this was a kind of his vanity, and the expression was funny.
5. Columbus is a very famous person, but I knew about him only vaguely. Thanks to this book, I could get to know what he did in detail. Because Columbus is now known by us as a hero, I didn't know he had been arrested. I thought Columbus was a pitiful and unfortunate man because he had made an important discovery like living in history, but he and any other people had never noticed it at that time. Also, he could never received any praise although everybody now knows his great achivement. I wondered if he was satisfied with this fact. I enjoyed this book. There were some unknown words in the book, but I also enjoyed learning those new words.
I'm sorry I'm always late writing the book reports because I'm busy.
Level: 3
2. 11/21 = 30 minutes; 11/24 = 20 minutes; 11/25 = 40 minutes.
3. Captain
Sail
West
Portugal
Wait
Spain
Gold
4.a. Colombus defende himself before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He told them he had brought back some treasure. (This was true.) And he had explored seven hundred islands. (This was an exaggeration!)
b. I liked these passages. He had promised the king and queen to bring back gold, but he failed. It was his second trip and so maybe he was aware something was wrong, but he still trusted himself. I thought this was a kind of his vanity, and the expression was funny.
5. Columbus is a very famous person, but I knew about him only vaguely. Thanks to this book, I could get to know what he did in detail. Because Columbus is now known by us as a hero, I didn't know he had been arrested. I thought Columbus was a pitiful and unfortunate man because he had made an important discovery like living in history, but he and any other people had never noticed it at that time. Also, he could never received any praise although everybody now knows his great achivement. I wondered if he was satisfied with this fact. I enjoyed this book. There were some unknown words in the book, but I also enjoyed learning those new words.
I'm sorry I'm always late writing the book reports because I'm busy.
Read
December 15, 2015"Who Was Christopher Columbus" by Bonnie Bader I thought was a very good book. I say this because it was a pretty easy read but it was very informative. As it was very informative the author did not make it too boring by only putting facts in it. The author also put some fun facts in the book to make it not so boring.
"Who Was Christopher Columbus" is about the life of Christopher Columbus. It is about all of his voyages to what he thought was the Indies, but what was really America. It was also about his life when he was not on the seas, but living his life on land. Christopher Columbus only wanted to the Indies for one main reason, but you will have to read "Who Was Christopher Columbus" by Bonnie Bader to find out!
I would recommend this book to kids in 4th grade or above that want to read about Christopher Columbus. I say this because it was a pretty easy read, but at the same time it was very informative.
"Who Was Christopher Columbus" is about the life of Christopher Columbus. It is about all of his voyages to what he thought was the Indies, but what was really America. It was also about his life when he was not on the seas, but living his life on land. Christopher Columbus only wanted to the Indies for one main reason, but you will have to read "Who Was Christopher Columbus" by Bonnie Bader to find out!
I would recommend this book to kids in 4th grade or above that want to read about Christopher Columbus. I say this because it was a pretty easy read, but at the same time it was very informative.
May 10, 2016
Penguin/ Level ?
May 2nd + 3rd = 120 minutes
explorer/ ocean/ Spain/ king and queen/ Indies/ gold/ new world/
"Some said he was too stubborn and had a bad temper."
I really feel that most of the important historical figures are said to have been stubborn or had a bad temper! This attitude usually could make people's characters bad and difficult to handle with. However, they perhaps might accomplish or obtain what others had never ever done because of being like it. I guess being obsessive about what you want or want to do sometimes turns out new and stunning results.
Since I love western history, I really liked this book! I know a little about Christpher Columbus, but I am just glad I could know about him even more! Nowadays Japan has strong connection with the United States from many aspects, and people think it is natural. However, it would not be natural like this if he never found the new world, so we have to thank him!
May 2nd + 3rd = 120 minutes
explorer/ ocean/ Spain/ king and queen/ Indies/ gold/ new world/
"Some said he was too stubborn and had a bad temper."
I really feel that most of the important historical figures are said to have been stubborn or had a bad temper! This attitude usually could make people's characters bad and difficult to handle with. However, they perhaps might accomplish or obtain what others had never ever done because of being like it. I guess being obsessive about what you want or want to do sometimes turns out new and stunning results.
Since I love western history, I really liked this book! I know a little about Christpher Columbus, but I am just glad I could know about him even more! Nowadays Japan has strong connection with the United States from many aspects, and people think it is natural. However, it would not be natural like this if he never found the new world, so we have to thank him!
October 20, 2013
Who Was Christopher Columbus?
By Bonnie Bader
Illustrations By Nancy Harrison
Grade Levels: App. 3-6
DRA/Lexile Measure/GLE: n/a
Reviewed By Aaron Carter
Who Was Christopher Columbus? would be an excellent resource for young readers researching the discovery of the New World, Christopher Columbus (i.e. explorers) and the difficulties of early exploration. There are nicely executed line drawings to complement the storyline, as well as helpful timelines on Columbus' life and exploration. More so than school-provided basal, this book details the numerous no-so-friendly aspects of Columbus and his men, and address, war, killing and death (either by storms, disease, or by humans); however, it's done in a matter-of-fact and objective way. Elements could be used in the lead up to Columbus Day if so desired.
By Bonnie Bader
Illustrations By Nancy Harrison
Grade Levels: App. 3-6
DRA/Lexile Measure/GLE: n/a
Reviewed By Aaron Carter
Who Was Christopher Columbus? would be an excellent resource for young readers researching the discovery of the New World, Christopher Columbus (i.e. explorers) and the difficulties of early exploration. There are nicely executed line drawings to complement the storyline, as well as helpful timelines on Columbus' life and exploration. More so than school-provided basal, this book details the numerous no-so-friendly aspects of Columbus and his men, and address, war, killing and death (either by storms, disease, or by humans); however, it's done in a matter-of-fact and objective way. Elements could be used in the lead up to Columbus Day if so desired.
October 5, 2014
I chose this book because Thanksgiving is approaching. Although teaching about Thanksgiving is fun, I would want to teach about the journey of Christopher Columbus as well. This book provides key information about the journey of Christopher sailing west to include, how he raised the money for the voyage, geographical information, and what even prompted him to think of sailing west.
As mentioned above, I would include this book when talking about Thanksgiving and the discovery of America. It would be fun to get the students to plan their own voyage and then talk about the places they plan to discover or explore. This would be a great way to talk about various geological features and cultures.
As mentioned above, I would include this book when talking about Thanksgiving and the discovery of America. It would be fun to get the students to plan their own voyage and then talk about the places they plan to discover or explore. This would be a great way to talk about various geological features and cultures.
September 6, 2014
This was a perfect book for young children first learning about Christopher Columbus. It was a simple chapter layout with elementary school vocabulary. I read this over a week with my daughter to supplement something we were doing in our homeschool co-op and she and I both learned a lot from it. It didn't exactly paint Columbus in a heroic light which lead to some good discussions about religion, greed, people's inherent human rights and other topics.
I also really liked the illustrations. They were black and white and well timed to lead to more discussions and gave me another excuse to get out our globe :)
I look forward to seeing more from this series.
I also really liked the illustrations. They were black and white and well timed to lead to more discussions and gave me another excuse to get out our globe :)
I look forward to seeing more from this series.
December 25, 2016
I assigned this book to my 3rd graders for a project. We read it together in class and discussed Columbus' s life. I like how this book talks about his dealings with the native Americans and how he wasnt innocent like many say. Columbus did take Native Americans as slaves back to Spain and his men did kill some. Columbus also went to jail and on 4 voyages in his lifetime. I still don't consider him to have discovered "new" land because the Native Americans were already here. But Columbus was the first European explorer to discover islands off of North and South America. I would recommend this book to elementary school students/teachers as in introduction to Christopher Columbus.
April 9, 2014
This biography explores the life of Christopher Columbus and his exploration. The biography also details some of the struggles Christopher Columbus faced along the way. I would use this book in my classroom to introduce Christopher Columbus in Social Studies. I could also use it as a way to develop student’s comprehension skills by asking questions directly related to the text. Overall, I believe this is a great biography on Christopher Columbus and the information is laid out in a way that is easy for young readers to understand. This book would also reinforce comprehension skills.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews