Reviews for Champlain

The average rating for Champlain based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-08-06 00:00:00 John Topaum Visually beautiful, with historically accurate art work and photos, this book is a feast for the eyes. The story of Champlain is told in a narrative form, sometimes straying into a patronizing tone that is slightly immature for the content and reading level. "Would anyone there have work for a bold young man who was now an experienced sailor and traveller? Yes, they would." Taking a much more balanced approach to First Peoples than many writings about Champlain this book focus quite heavily on his alliance with the First Nations people and the early French settlers' reliance on them. This book offers a more tempered and realistic approach to this subject as both people learned from one another and quickly became dependent upon each other. This is a nice introduction to Champlain and the settling of New France. It is very much a brief overview, giving little in depth detail about his life, rather skimming highlights. Although he had many exciting adventures the author holds strictly to the facts without allowing for any sensationalism. One of the greatest advantages over others which cover this period in New France's history is the way in which the Iroquois are addressed. Rather than being painted as evil attackers, this book offers a far more balanced and factual approach. It explains that with a very similar lifestyle to the Huron, the two people groups were trade rivals. The French aligned themselves with the Huron, the English with the Iroquois and this escalated a trade war that had already been in existence. Teacher Application A useful book for learning about Champlain and early New France. This book is better suited to jr.-high school students as it is simply told, but doesn't elaborate very much on the more exciting experiences in his life. Only giving passing mention to things like being shot by Iroquois on the war path. Younger students would likely enjoy a book which focused more heavily on these moments, and less on the mundane. There is not a chronology included in the book. Students could create a timeline for either the settlement of New France or Champlain's life. Contents: Foreword The Early Years First Attempts at Settlement Canada 1608 The struggle to build New France Alliances and Explorations A Thriving Settlement Champlain the Canadian After Champlain The Champlain Mysteries Historic Sites and Monuments Reading About Champlain Acknowledgements and Illustration Credits Index

Review # 2 was written on 2015-07-16 00:00:00 Randi Hawley This is just the type of children's biography that I recommend adults read when they want a little information but do not want to drown in a 400+ page adult biography. As for children, this book is aimed at middle school grades and above. Moore presents Champlain's life from his earliest days until his death explaining what is known about his life and what is not. The illustrations, which are historically accurate to the best of our knowledge, help the reader visualize Champlain's surroundings. Various additional information is provided in the back of the book with the only thing that could possibly be added is a chronology. I thought the book was excellent although Moore stumbled a bit at the end trying to address the harm done to the Native Americans with the European colonization.