In 1607, when John Smith and his "Coatmen" arrive in Powhatan to begin settling the colony of Virginia, their relations with the village's inhabitants are anything but warm. Pocahontas, the beloved daughter of the Powhatan chief, Mamanatowic, is just eleven; but in spite of her age, this astute young girl acts with wisdom and compassion, and plays a fateful, peaceful role in the destinies of two peoples. Drawing from the personal journals of John Smith, Joseph Bruchac, winner of the American Book Award for Breaking Silence, reveals an important part of history through the eyes of two historic figures.
Told from the viewpoints of Pocahontas and John Smith, describes their lives in the context of the encounter between the Powhatan Indians and the English colonists of seventeenth-century Jamestown, Virginia.
