Benjamin Franklin Book

Pocahontas: Princess of the New World is a children's picture book written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by David Díaz. It is a semi-biographical picture book of Pocahontas and her detrimental encounter with the Europeans.

November, at least in my part of the world is Native American Heritage Month, which I plan to read one children's book, preferably a biography, which pertains to the subject everyday this month. Therefore, I thought that this book would be apropos for today.

Pocahontas was a Native American woman notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribes in the Tsenacommacah, encompassing the Tidewater region of Virginia.

Krull's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. With speculations based on her research, Krull personalizes the girl who found herself at the crossroads of two cultures. A cursory biography and epilogue could be found in the backmatter. Diaz's computer-colorized lithographs glow with vibrant yellow, green and purple hues. Each brown and tan character cut-out emanates a shimmering yellow aura, and faces are always in profile.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Extrapolating from the English sources that are the only documentary accounts of Pocahontas's life, Krull imagines her subject as a spirited, willful child, very conscious of her status as daughter of Chief Powhatan, and curious enough to engage with the new arrivals at Jamestown. The narrative economically continues the intertwined stories of Pocahontas's maturation and the travails of the white settlers, depicting a woman forced by circumstance into the role she played but nevertheless accepting it with grace and intelligence.

All in all, Pocahontas: Princess of the New World is a cursory biography, albeit speculative of a historical figure in Pocahontas.