Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan

by Jean Fritz

Overview

Newbery-Honor winning author, Jean Fritz, brings history to life once again in 10 true tales of 15th-century European explorers!

True tales of our world's greatest 15th century explorers, from Bartholomew Diaz and Christopher Columbus to Juan Ponce de Leon and Vasco Nunez de Balboa, are fascinatingly portrayed, complimented with the softly shaded pencil illustrations of Anthony Bacon Venti. Readers are led through a one-hundred-year period when Europeans explored the world and mapped the globe, while selfishly feeding their own curiosity and greed along the way. Fritz includes astounding details, which provide young readers with an expanded understanding of events and the idiosyncrasies of these colorful characters. Venti's maps clarify the explorers' routes. Count on Jean Fritz to breathe life into these true tales of the Old World's fifteen most extraordinary explorers. It is history written in a refreshingly new way.

"While presenting the salient facts, Fritz approaches them with playful irreverence; accordingly, the frequently traveled material can seem refreshingly new."—Publisher's Weekly 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698116382
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	07/20/1998
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	907,804
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.35(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Acclaimed biographer, Jean Fritz, was born in China to American missionaries on November 16, 1915. Living there until she was almost thirteen sparked a lifelong interest in American history.  She wrote about her childhood in China in Homesick, My Own Story, a Newbery Honor Book and winner of the National Book Award.
     Ms. Fritz was the author of forty-five books for children and young people. Many center on historical American figures, gaining her a reputation as the premier author of biographies for children and young people.
     Among the other prestigious awards Ms. Fritz has garnered are: the National Humanities Medal, the Children's Literature Legacy Award, the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Award. the Christopher Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Non-Fiction Award, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and many ALA Notable Books of the Year, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, and ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice Awards.
     She passed away on May 14, 2017.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Around the World in a Hundred Years

★''Fritz offers a wickedly funny look at 10 explorers who, between 1421 and 1522, ventured into what contemporaneous mapmakers called the Unknown. While presenting the salient facts, Fritz approaches them with playful irreverence; accordingly, the frequently traveled material can seem refreshingly new." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An excellent book that brings the period alive." -Children 's Book Review Service

''Fritz delivers a pleasant, chatty narrative, chock full of insights, observations, and fascinating facts." -The New Advocate

An IRA Teachers’ Choice
NCTE Orbis Pictus Nominee
A Parenting Magazine Best Book of the Year

From the Publisher

Noted biographer and historian Fritz ( Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt ) offers a wickedly funny look at 10 explorers who, between 1421 and 1522, ventured into what contemporaneous mapmakers called the Unknown. While presenting the salient facts, Fritz approaches them with playful irreverence; accordingly, the frequently traveled material can seem refreshingly new. Discussing Amerigo Vespucci, she writes, ``Some give him credit for recognizing a continent when he saw one. Others call him an out-and-out faker.'' This tone proves especially effective when Fritz addresses such problematic issues as the treatment of native people and the often accidental nature of many of the discoveries. Reflecting the humor of Fritz's text, Venti's lighthearted black-and-white drawings use subtle strokes, as in a picture of Balboa, heavily in debt, stowed away on a ship and peering out from the barrel he'd hidden inside. Readable, attractive maps begin each chapter, providing useful visual references for each voyager's route. Ages 7-11. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-7-A look at ``the first great wave of European exploration'' (1421-1522) through brief portraits of various participants. Fritz does many things well here. She writes with ease and humor, including details that add color and humanity to historical figures, and skillfully incorporates research into her narrative. She presents the heroic aspects of the voyages, as well as evidence of the arrogance, cruelty, and greed many of these men displayed. Despite all the good attributes, the book suffers because of the complexity of the subject matter. By including so many different individuals, the issue becomes complicated; after a while, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese names start to run together. Some of the men's lifetimes and discoveries overlap, which makes it even more difficult to sort out who did what... and when. The illustrations are beautiful, entertaining, Renaissance-inspired pencil drawings. They include many amusing touches, such as the island of Porto Santo being overtaken by rabbits, but because they are in black and white and almost too finely drawn, they do not have a great deal of child appeal. A map at the beginning of each chapter shows the explorer's route. An outline of the continents appears on the end papers, but there aren't enough world maps throughout the book to enable readers to get a more complete picture of how the ``discovered'' countries fit into the world as a whole. The text is not straightforward enough for reports, but interested readers may enjoy perusing these tales of adventure and scientific discovery.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

School Library Journal