185. Hudson by Janice Weaver

Hudson by Janice Weaver. Illustrated by David Craig (Canada) - (USA)


Pages: 47
Ages: 8+
Finished: Sept. 8, 2010
First Published: Sept. 14, 2010
Publisher: Tundra Books
Genre: children, non-fiction, biography
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Unlike most early explorers, Henry Hudson discovered no new land or territory.

Acquired: Received a review copy from LibraryThing.

Reason for Reading: I'm always interested in finding good Canadian history books for kids. I've always had an interest in Hudson's story and imagining what happened to him.

This is a picture book sized non-fiction biography of Henry Hudson written in a nice, friendly voice. The book is chronological and very detailed as the author uses many source quotes from the various journals of Hudson and his crew mates, keeping them accessible to the intended audience of the book. As well as the main narrative which is told is short chapters there are also blocks of text with further information on subjects mentioned in the text such as the whaling industry, navigation tools and scurvy. Hudson is portrayed as a real person and as a vibrant 40 something year old man that he would have been instead of the grizzled old man he is portrayed in that one famous painting everyone has come to recognize as Hudson. Hudson's meetings with the Natives are told matter of factly as they happened without writing from a revisionist perspective. There is a page devoted to the early explorers' contact with the Natives and I was glad to see that the white man's behaviour is explained from his frame of mind at the time without passing modern day judgment. The book is filled with illustrations of source materials and the added artwork of Daniel Craig is beautifully alive. A great new book certainly recommended for libraries and classrooms and those who enjoy an informative biography.