The Starving Time

Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary #2

by Patricia Hermes

In Pat Hermes' sequel to Our Strange New Land, Elizabeth faces harsher times as she records the colony's daily struggle for survival. The My America series will be relaunched with new covers.



The story of the feisty, determined Lizzie of Pat Hermes Our Strange New Land continues in this installment with the departure of both Captain John Smith and Lizzie's dear friend, Jessie. Facing new challenges, Lizzie records in her new diary all of the challenges that face the struggling colony.

ndeed, food is scarce and there is no one left who can deal with the Indians wisely. As a result of starvation and disease, Lizzie watches hopelessly as many of the settlers die. She records all of this, but even more, she records the intimate lives of the children who remain there, along

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Childrens, Middle Grade, Diary, Fiction, American History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's October, 1609. Although her best friend Jessie Bolton has returned to England with her grieving father following her mother's death, nine-year-old Elizabeth Barker is hopeful. The small colony of Jamestown, Virginia, is finally beginning to feel like home. The birth of Lizzie's baby sister, Abigail, has brought the Barker family joy. And Lizzie's twin brother, Caleb, will join the family come spring. But nothing can prepare Lizzie, her family, and the other colonies for the hardships they will face over winter. There isn't nearly enough food to last until the next ship arrives in the spring, and as soon as the first snow falls, disease once again breaks out among the colonists. Lizzie fears for her life, for her parent's lives, but especially for the life of little Abigail, whom Lizzie fears may not be strong enough to survive the winter. Lizzie and her new friend Mary cling to each other for comfort and pray for deliverance, yet even their strong spirits may not be enough to keep their families alive. As Lizzie struggles through the death of friends and loved ones, family and strangers, and starvation and sickness, she fights to keep her hope alive and to never give up.

Told through Lizzie's spirited diary entries, this book continues the story begun in Our Strange New Land. Both that book and this one reveal what life might have been like for a young girl during the difficult winter of 1609-1610 in Jamestown Colony. I highly reccomend this book to all fans of the Dear America and My America series, especially those that loved the first book about Lizzie.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing Lizzie's story, this book starts where the first left off and covers the next ten months, through the terrible winter of 1609-1610. In addition to the struggles against fear and of learning to survive in a new environment, now Lizzie documents the effect of desperate hunger and disease on the Jamestown settlement. Necessarily a bit darker than the first book because of the events of that winter, this one deals with death more closely as someone close to Lizzie dies. Ms. Hermes manages to acknowledge and deal with the tragic episodes appropriately and balances them with lighter moments and Lizzie's hopeful attitude.

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[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrica Hermes the starving is a good book because it describes life in a fort very well. Like how diseases spread so quickly one person got it then it just spread like wild fire around the fort. The main character Elizabeth is having a hard time because her brother went back on the supply ship and her mother got sick. So it is just her dad and her little sister and her are trying to take care of her mom and the house. And her friends also went back on the supply ship so she has no friends.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very similar to the mayflower diary in the dear America books. Only difference I feel is the Indian interaction. I feel Deja vu with so many of the events that happened in this book.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our oldest has been studying about Jamestown a lot this year and she came upon this series of three diaries by a character named Elizabeth.

She borrowed all three books from her elementary school library, but gave me the third one, Season of Promise, first (I have no idea why.) I read more than half of the book aloud to our girls, but our youngest tired of the format. I think this series is better as an independent read anyway. So I read that one, followed by this one. And I think she will bring home book #1, Our Strange New Land today for me to complete my backward journey through the diaries.

Still, I found the books to be interesting, if not perhaps completely historically accurate. This tale is a very sad one, with the settlement reeling from poor governance, starvation, sickness and conflict with the local Powhatan tribes. So many people died.

I think that children, especially girls, will be able to relate to the emotions, experiences, and relationships that Elizabeth describes. I found the diary entries to be very readable, although I suppose I would tire of it if the books were much longer.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was depressing. It was another very good read, but the details included about the suffering the colonists faced was hard to read at times, especially when it came to how desperate they were for food. I was kind of surprised at how many named characters died, some without any fanfare. I’m looking forward to the last book in this series; it looks like Lizzie’s going to have some familial challenges coming her way.

[Leah Angstman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to see if it was okay for my younger cousin to read. I hate epistolary books, and this author has some serious repetitive tics, but this second volume is better than the first one. The beginning is slow, but the ending has a lot more depth and tension, and it actually shows a bit of the desperation of the Starving Time in a way that would be impactful for kids. This is a book for pretty young readers, and it thankfully talks less about God than the first volume did. I'm not interested in passing religion on to my young cousin, so that was a big clincher for me when I started vetting these books.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 7 year old, a history fan, and I enjoyed reading The Starving Time even though we hadn't yet read the first in this diary series about life in Jamestown. Written at about the third grade level, it is easy to digest but does include a child's perspective of the suffering faced by settlers during the disastrous winter after John Smith left the colony. Elizabeth's sympathy for the indigenous Virginians strikes a somewhat unrealistic note, but it gives modern audiences a likeable character to root for.

[Little Seal]

One of my best friends gets me American Girl or AG-adjacent books when she sees them. This is my first 'My America' books as this is geared towards 9 year olds (and I typically read 'Dear America' which is a little more dark/serious). While it was the second journal of this character, you can follow along pretty easily without having read the first one.

I am just glad I did not live during this time period because yikes, I hate it.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent read, but it was again very short and not very detailed about the historical stuff. I again would recommend for elementary kids, as it is shorter than Dear America and not as nuanced, not that Dear America is super nuanced either, but still.
I'm goanna be continuing with the series, just for completion of Dear America cannon.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young lady writing her diary about life in the Americans and the new settlement of Jamestown.
One just shakes ones head at the ignorance of the settlers coming to America.
Apparently no one read what the Spanish and Portuguese had went through.
Also the idea that they were better than the Natives, when had they made friends, the outcome would've been way different.

[Lucy Arrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent look for young children at the starving time in Jamestown colony. I do find it odd that the author does not shirk deaths close to the protagonist but does omit cannibalism entirely, choosing to include non-historically based gifts of food from natives as a means of survival instead. Other than this, good book.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good it tells history truthfully. I give it a 3 stars because the main character Elizabeth is friends with phocohantas. I think this is far fetched and undermines the realism of the rest of the book. Yes this is a childrens books but I needed a quick read.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good historical fiction account for younger students about the Jamestown colony, narrated by a young girl who goes through the "starving time." The novel is written as a diary or journal that she intends to give her twin brother, who is still in England. It is very realistic and well done.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth, perhaps had more of a modern mindset than I would have guessed a girl from her time frame would have, but still good information about that early Jamestown colony and the harsh first winter in the new world.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deals with a difficult topic in an engaging and age-appropriate way.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book for early readers to gain a glimpse of life in the Jamestown Colony.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very easy and fast read for me. I would recommend this book to a historical fiction lover.

[Kayla S · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

[SuperstarReviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this was a copy of the My America Series, I loved the story. The ending was bittersweet, Elizabeth now has her twin brother with her, but her mom is dead, along with many more.

[Isabelle Altman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sad but super good.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy read

[Jasmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[Stephanie Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good

[Buglover29 · Rating 3 out of 5]

cannot believe i read this at the ripe age of 6 years old

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Do you not grieve so much when you are thirteen or fourteen? I am only nine. I think I will grieve for the rest of my life.”

felt.

[Gracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me feel especiaily thankful for what I have.

[Jazzmyn Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book about the straving time in jamestown good for age 10 and up i lke it a lot and like the my american books

[Florence Baumgardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Starving Time (Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary#2) by Patricia Hermes
ISBN 0-439-36902-9
The Starving Time (Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary#2) by Patricia Hermes is a diary of historical fiction. Written for P-Primary and I-Intermediate ages 7-10. Elizabeth has made it to Jamestown in America. Her diary starts October 9, 1609 and continues to August 11, 1610. In her diary she tells about the her new life in America and the struggles. This book was very emotional to read. It is a time of hardship and death. One of my favorite books to read but not sure what children think or feel when reading this book. At the end of the book you can find a section called Historical note that contains drawings of the fort and gives more factual information about that time. While working with children it would be great to build James Fort with all it walls and barriers. People living in the fort caused many of their own problems of starvation by barricading out the wildlife outside the fort. This also was a way of keeping them safe from the Indians living outside the fort.