The True Story of Pocahontas (Step into Reading) [Paperback] Penner, Lucille Recht

good

for the kids

I am beyond pleased with this book! My daughter has been struggling to read and so I purchased this book with hopes that it would make practicing reading fun for her and also build her confidence reading. She loves history and loves Disney's movie 'Pocahontas'. This book was perfect for her. It had a great balance of sentences/illustrations- just enough sentences on each page to make it feel like a 'real book' and not just a 'beginners book'. She was able to read/sound out most of the words without help and when we got to the word 'Powhatan' I googled the pronunciation to makes sure she was saying it right. The story is fun to follow and the illustrations are very nicely done! What I love most is that she got to practice reading AND learn about real historical events. I highly recommend this book and plan on ordering the other ones on this level that Amazon has available!

Die "echte"Geschichte Pocahontas in einer kindergerechten Art und Weise dargestellt, also nicht zu gewalttätig, aber ohne die Geschichte Disney-artig zu verniedlichen. Tolles Buch, dass die Kinder, denen ich es vorgelesen habe, sehr mochten und dabei noch Geschichte vermittelt bekamen.

Bought for the granchidren who have enjoyed it very much, many thanks

It already starts out with mistakes, such as that her true name was Pocahontas "The Playful One", while in reality that was her mother's name, and it means "Laughing and Joyous One", not "Playful One". It was only her nickname, her true name was Matoaka, "Flower between two streams", because her father's village and her mother's village were separated by the York rivers. The book also makes it sound, as if Powhatan Wahunsenaca lived with his "many wives" and "hundred children" sort of like an oriental Pasha in the village, while in reality his many "wives" were alliance marriages, like Salomon's, or even european kings, who married out of political reasons . (And usually kept their concubines around them.) Back then the Powhatan was obligated to marry for political alliances, but his "wives" could definitely refuse to be "married" to him, and usually didn't even move to their prospective husbands. Pocahontas, the mother of Matoaka, was the woman he loved, and he married her before he became Powhatan. Unfortunately she died after the birth of Pocahontas Matoaka. There was never any mention of any of this in this booklet. Why? It is also untrue, that Powhatan Wahunsenaca never paid the ransom for Pocahontas release! In fact, he paid for it several times, but Pocahontas was never released!! Also John Smith had been "adopted" by the tribe after Pocahontas spoke for him, but he never helped the peace efffort, and when he returned to London he didn't sent any word back to his "people"for 12 years, and the Powhatans were made to think he had died. That's the reason why Pocahontas did not talk to him, when she met up with him in London, and, instead, rushed out of the room, too disappointed and hurt to even say a word! The book does not mention her early death, at the age of 22 years, either. And especially not, that she was poisoned...It is quiet obvious, that this is a children's book, written by white people, trying to make it sound, as if her life had been an interesting fairy tale. Unfortunately none of that is true!