Who Was Ferdinand Magellan?

Who Was . . . ? Series

by Sydelle Kramer, Who H.Q.

When Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519, he believed he could get to the Spice Islands by sailing west through or around the New World. He was right, but what he didn't know was that the treacherous voyage would take him three years and cost him his life. Black-and-white line drawings illustrate Magellan's life and voyage, with sidebars and a time line that enhance readers' understanding of the period.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Childrens, Adventure, Juvenile, Middle Grade

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2004

About the author

Sydelle Kramer is the author of many nonfiction graded readers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who Was Ferdinand Magellan? by Sydelle Kramer was filled with interesting information but also sprinkled with a lot of unfounded speculation. My the time Magellan was sailing, the sailors knew the world was NOT flat but this was stated that they believed it was flat and fearful. There was also grammar errors. The info was interesting about his life and I did learn a lot but some things were not facts but fictionalized for the story, did it happen like that? Umm.... Good book over all. He was certainly a nut!

[Steven Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519, he believed he could get to the Spice Islands by sailing west through or around the New World. He was right, but what he didn't know was that the treacherous voyage would take him three years and cost him his life. Black-and-white line drawings illustrate Magellan's life and voyage, with sidebars and a time line that enhance readers' understanding of the period.

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

106 pages. Great biography on a person who did not let anything stop him from reaching his dream to sail around the world. I have never heard of a person who had more stacked against them in life and fought so hard to reach their goals. I was amazed at all the things I learned while reading this biography. I think the author gives a very balanced view of a man who was not perfect but persevered in a world filled with difficult situations. Highly recommended for Grades 4-5.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Portuguese but the King didn't like him so he switched to Spain. Interesting. Died whilst trying to convert some tribal people on an island (so a bit of a religious dill, his crew told him not to do it! Zealotry will kill you).

[Joey Oborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book told me a lot about Magellan.
He was a great explore and he was the first explore to sail all around the world. they fourt some times, and when they fourt the natvies he claims the philippines for spain and he died becuase they went on top of him and hit him and when they got off his body, it was gone!!!

[Chuzzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Mark Twain...

[Tj Bayles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was nasty at the point when they explained that they were passing Indians and the Indians were cannibals and they were all scared. On way they around the world they ran out of food so they had to eat the ones that died or the dead rats on board and they through the remaining parts of the person over board.

[Mrs. Trimble · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty interesting book. I read it aloud to my kids and they seemed to really be interested in it as well. These biographies are packed full of information but in a way that's easy to understand. It was a great mini-history lesson.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who Was Ferdinand Magellan? by Sydelle Kramer is a short but fact-filled book in the award-winning "Who Was..." series targeted specifically for the youth market. The author shares details from the life of Ferdinand Magellan, credited as being the first man to circumnavigate the world. Born and raised in Portugal, he was afflicted with the travel bug early in life. Many explorations were happening all around him and he set about becoming an experienced sailor and traveler. He wanted to sail west to find a shorter way to China and then continue west home. When he was unable to find support from the king of Portugal, he decided to try his luck in Spain where he eventually did get support to outfit and hire crews for several ships to explore a western route to the far east. After sailing south along the western coast of Africa they turned west and arrived at South America where they continued south along the eastern coast until they were forced to wait out the winter before continuing. After several attempts, they eventually found there way west through what is now called the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific. They endured many hardships throughout the trip running low on food and loss of lives. Once they did find the Philippines, Magellan set about converting the natives to Christianity. One large tribe resisted and when Magellan, overconfident in their weapons and abilities, tried to convert them by force, the resistance was overwhelming and resulted in Magellan's death. The natives refused to return his body and he was lost to history. The rest of the crew continued west through the Indian ocean making their way eventually back to Spain after several years. Although Magellan himself did not make it past the Philippines, he is still credited with the first circumnavigation of the world.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one is a bit out of date. While the author acknowledged at the end that Magellan’s voyage was not nearly as profitable as he had hoped, nor as useful, he insisted that Magellan should get credit for sailing around the world. I would think that whichever captain under Magellan took command after his death and finished that route should get the credit. No, I have no idea as to his name. But seeing Magellan didn’t make it even to the Mallucas, I would say he failed. He must have had incredible determination and some charisma since no mutiny ever succeeded even though the author emphasized he was disliked by most. This title is 20 years old and seriously due for retirement, or a good amount of editing. Not recommended.

[Johnny G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect from this explorer, because I knew very little about him. But after I sat down and read this book, I now know a lot about how difficult every bit of his journey was - and how history forced him to relocate from Portugal to Spain, and the rest is history. I also did not know that his journey was considered a failure at the time because his ship that returned only had enough spices on it to barely pay for the trip - but of course we know today that his voyage was the first to circumnavigate the globe. Very interesting, and a quick historical read!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite fascinating!

[Coral Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing work😻

[Kristi Clemow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good - seems like there was a decent amount of info about him available.
Top 5 things I learned/found interesting:
- He sustained an injury and had a bad leg - the King was a jerk to him for several reasons including his disability
- At the time, they had no real way of knowing what longitude they were at while sailing
- Magellan finally found the pass-through to the "pacific" ocean - called it the Strait of All Saints - now called Strait of Magellan
- He didn't actually make it all the way around the world - he died trying to force some islanders to accept Spanish rule and Christianity
- He baptized 2200 people on one island - felt a connection to God but was a murderer and obsessed with fame and fortune

[Preston]

I like the book because it had a lot of action.

[Yaretzy Jiménez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para mi fue un pequeño libro, pero para los pequeños del hogar puede ser una gran historia.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Who Was Ferdinand Magellan" by Sydelle Kramer is a book full of amazing facts about Ferdinand Magellan. Ferdinand Magellan is one of the most famous explorers ever. Besides being an explorer he was also a soldier. When he was a soldier he was hit in the leg and caused him to have a permanent limp and have to walk with a cane. He also became famous after the king of Portugal thought that he wasn't a good enough sailor.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1480 Ferdinand was born in a barn from a noble but poor family. he was the youngest child. 12 years later he was appointed a page for the queen. He took the spice route a lot. ( an long ocean path to get spices for the royal family.)

Later in life when his father and mother had well….. ( no pleasant way to say it….)
Passed away. he decided god had his back and he was destined to go to sea.
He wanted to sail to aisa. but he could not convince anyone to let him go! Neither did the king like him! But soon he fooled a new king who would not let him go and went from spain.( with the help of the king and some friends!) some people went with him.
Will they succeed in finding el paso? And the moluccas? Read it to find out as they see peguins and fight Indians! Or worse! Fail or DIE! Or both!
What I like about this book is everyone knows the adventure because of a written down journal from a crewmember during the adventure!
What I learned from this book is if you believe in yourself you can achieve BIG THINGS! Bye!

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magellan, a famous explorer and the first to travel to the Spice Islands by going west from Spain.

Magellan was a very un-noticed man even after his big journey. I liked how Magellan was doubted by the king of Portugal about how he couldn’t travel west to the Spice Islands but Magellan proved him wrong. I also liked how Magellan escaped from the people who tried to kill him because people thought he didn’t know what he was doing. I learned that Magellan soon became crazy by wanting every native tribe to become Christian which soon caused his death.

Magellan was a very interesting man but he was not recognized by other people and not even his shipmates even talked about him.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sad story. I had no idea how much stuff was required for these trips. Very nice details.

[David Rough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have recently found this nice series of biographies for young readers. Various authors have contributed to this series, which now includes over 160 books. Each book is short (about 100 pages) and gives a good summary of a historical figure. The list of people includes explorers, scientists, painters, authors, musicians; there is a good balance between males and females demonstrating the importance of both genders in the accomplishments of mankind.

Ferdinand Magellan, a native of Portugal, set sail from Spain for the first ocean trip around the world in 1519. Casting off the port in Spain with a fleet of five boats, he had no idea how treacherous the voyage would become. This biography traces his journeys and although this is a “G” version, the harshness of the seas and the mutiny of the crew have gruesome consequences. Ferdinand’s faith in God is a thread throughout his biography.

[Jamie]

Children's Biography

Often referred to as “Big Head Biographies” Magellan’s book in this series is sure to please most upper elementary and middle school students. Written in large print text with line drawings to illustrate ideas, this book tells the story of Magellan’s life in chronological order- from boyhood to explorer to death. The text also includes fun, little-known facts to help the reader connect with the subject. The inserts about the age of exploration, maps, and other topics found every few pages are a nice addition as they add extra information about the time period and other notable people during this exciting time.
Target Audience grades 3-6

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was doing this as a read-aloud with third grade, and when we ran out of time and had to stop they all boo-ed! The writing style is so interesting that they were mad we had to stop.

I can see why this is such a popular series with our middle-grade students. Facts are woven into a narrative style to make the story so much fun to read.

Magellan, in particular, has such an adventurous story with surprising twists in the Victoria's navigation around the world. The time period is very well explained which can sometimes be overlooked in books for kids. Highly recommended.

[Jiyoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a biography of Ferdinand Magellan, the man who found Magellan's Straight. The book informs the reader about Ferdinand Magellan and his adventures, using many text features to show what actually happened. The book has pictures, timelines, dialogues, etc. Nonfiction books aren't really my favorite pick, but I still loved how the author described what happened well, making me read more.

[Victoria B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written to sound very exciting, it seems as though Magellan never had a dull moment in his fairly short life. For the most part, Magellan was portrayed as a highly intelligent, determined, and ambitious explorer with strong problem-solving skills - at least until toward the end of his life. His reckless decision to suddenly change the primary objective of his mission ended up costing his life.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently discovered this Who Is series for young readers at a library book sale and bought two for my grandsons. They are informative and illustrated. Also a good way for a grandmother to do a short history review. This one on Magellan shares his strengths and weaknesses, and also shows the hazards of global exploration in the 1400s.

[CL]

Led first expedition to circumnavigate the world. Sailed for Spain (originally from Portugal) Found a strait in South America to cross from Atlantic to Pacific. Named the Pacific Ocean. Died during fight with natives on island while trying to convert them to Christianity.

[Enilor Mirror · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this before giving it to my little brother (11 years old). It's very detailed for a children's book.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if I would have liked him, had I met him when he was alive.

[Tyler Wolpert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography, Grade Level 3-5, 6-8. Simplified way of reading a biography with easy to read words and pages while keeping accurate information.