Encounter

by Jane Yolen

Book Overview

When Christopher Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador in 1492, what he discovered were the Taino Indians. Told from a young Taino boy's point of view, this is a story of how the boy tried to warn his people against welcoming the strangers, who seemed more interested in golden ornaments than friendship. Years later the boy, now an old man, looks back at the destruction of his people and their culture by the colonizers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 015201389X
• ISBN13: 9780152013899
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 9.0" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4

Customer Reviews

Brave New World

For the first few years in school, children learn about Columbus the hero. You get the ships and the voyage and the alleged discovery. When I taught third grade I would read this book around Columbus day and it was shock and awe with the kids. The thought that Columbus might not have been such a hero created dead silence around my room. Some felt duped by their second and first grade teachers. A conversation really begins to take hold about information and where it comes from and what you should or should not just assume to be true. It is higher level thinking at its best. After reading this book and having the discussions that followed, many of my students began asking many more questions about the other side of every argument. What a valuable lesson! For many of my students it was a brave new world. Chris Bowen Author of, Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom

Encounter

Encounter by Jane Yolen takes place in the past. A boy had a bad dream about three great winged birds then he walked to the beach, he saw his dream birds. When the strangers arrived the little boy said" Do not welcome them." To see if the strangers were true men the boy pinched there hands one by one when they built a "feasting fire." The chief taught them how to smoke. When the boy ran to his zemis he fed pieces from the feast and prayed "let the pale strangers from the sky go away from us." When he got back to the feast, one of the strangers let him touch there sword. When he touched it he started to bleed. So when the strangers went on their boats they took people and parrot the boy jumped out and swam to land. When he got to land no one would listen to him because he was a child. You should listen to whatever anyone has to say. The boy's bad dream was a warning. The boy said "Do not welcome them" Do not call them friends" then they have already welcomed them. The chief didn't listen to him because he was a child. The boy said "Do not welcome them" three times and "Do not call them friends" once. I recommend this book to anyone who feels just because they're a child nobody listens to them. By Jesus

The True Meaning behind Encounter

The book, Encounter, was so astonishing because of it's vivid descriptions. Not only did it express the arrival of Christopher Columbus through another's eyes, but it was through a child that the story was told. No one believed him because he was so young and they believed that the dream that had been sent to him was just a nightmare. He could tell that they were evil and greedy ever since they set foot in his home. The new arrivers had treated his people like indians, believing that their gifts were to great for such lowly people. Their clothes were so colorful compared to the clothes that wore. After being accepted in a new territory they compensated by having people taken away from them to become slaves. But still no one listened to such a small boy. He escaped and that's how he was able to tell his tale to others, but it was too late. All the people he had once knew were taken away from him forever. I really liked this book because it was in the point of view from someone so young and innocent.

Fantastic for "walking a mile in someone else's shoes".

First found this book when I was student teaching. Such a powerful book, both to teach history/social studies and to see that every story has two sides. I've been in 2 classrooms since and have decided I can't live without this book.

Great, from the point of view of a Taino child

beautiful illustrations, lovely story, unique and unusual point-of-view.