Bibliographical information:

Armstrong, Alan. Raleigh's Page. New York: Random House, 2007.

Brief summary:

In the spring of 1584, Andrew Saintleger becomes a page of Walter Raleigh. In Raleigh's service, he studies plants with a French gardener, visits with John Dee, engages in espionage, and travels to Virginia.

Comments:

Andrew's adventures are exciting, and Armstrong addresses the moral complexities of the colonial encounter quite well. He also introduces readers to a wealth of information--about early modern England, about the condition of Jews and Catholics in sixteenth-century England, and about early colonial Virginia--and includes a bibliography for those who might want to read further.

Grade/Age level:

Grades 5 through 8

Cautions:

There's some violence described here.

If you like this book, you might also like . . .

Jean Hiatt Harlow, Midnight Rider, Patricia Clapp, I'm Deborah Sampson: A Soldier in the War of the Revolution

--Lisa Gordis

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