Magellan: Over the Edge of the World

By: Laurence Bergreen

This is a middle-grade adaptation of Bergreen's adult bestseller, about Magellan's historic voyage around the globe. List of major characters. A note on dates. Notes on sources. Bibliography. Index. Black-and-white maps, photographs, diagram, and reproductions.

ISBN: 9781626721203

JLG Release: Sep 2017

Sensitive Areas: Violence, Prostitution, Murder, Kidnapping, Graphic descriptions of disease

Topics: Fernão de Magalhães (?–1521) , Explorers , Portugal , Biography , Voyages around the world , Sixteenth-century history , Exploration and discovery , European history , Transportation , Boats, ships, and underwater craft

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Awards & Honors

MSL Cream of the Crop - 2018

Praise & Reviews

Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:

Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

School Library Journal

The opening lines of the prologue set the grim tone for this harrowing story of ambition and adventure in the age of explorers. Bergreen begins by tracing the complex bureaucratic and diplomatic machinations, with first the Portuguese and then the Spanish king, necessary for Ferdinand Magellan to obtain backing for an armada of five ships and more The opening lines of the prologue set the grim tone for this harrowing story of ambition and adventure in the age of explorers. Bergreen begins by tracing the complex bureaucratic and diplomatic machinations, with first the Portuguese and then the Spanish king, necessary for Ferdinand Magellan to obtain backing for an armada of five ships and more than 250 sailors. Through his balance of brute force and sophisticated personal diplomacy, Magellan drove his crew through multiple insubordinations and attempts at mutiny, the ravages of scurvy, a shipwreck on the Argentine coast, and troubled and sometimes violent interactions with indigenous peoples to discover the passage through the straits that bear his name, a sea route to support the lucrative spice trade, and the Pacific trade winds. The narrative is broken up with useful digressions on related topics. One chapter details the incredible difficulty of life at sea; another focuses on the early history of Chinese and Arab trade with the islands now known as the Philippines. Visual materials include reproductions of contemporaneous maps, paintings, and drawings; relevant photographs, such as one depicting a modern replica of Magellan’s ship Victoria; and illustrations from a journal kept by Magellan’s assistant. The volume concludes with copious chapter-by-chapter source notes and an extensive bibliography. Though it occasionally strays into florid language (“The voyage would sustain them all, or it would destroy them all”) and Magellan’s often problematic actions could be better contextualized, this is a richly researched and highly readable explication of a perennially favorite subject. VERDICT For large world history and biography collections.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA

Book Details

ISBN

9781626721203

First Release

September 2017

Genre

Nonfic

Dewey Classification

910.4/1

Trim Size

9" x 6"

Page Count

224

Accelerated Reader

Level 9; Points: 9;

Scholastic Reading Counts

Level 11.8; Points: 13;

Lexile

Level 1190L

Format

Print Book

Edition

Hardcover edition

Publisher

Roaring Brook

Potentially Sensitive Areas

Violence, Prostitution, Murder, Kidnapping, Graphic descriptions of disease

Topics

Fernão de Magalhães (?–1521), Explorers, Portugal, Biography, Voyages around the world, Sixteenth-century history, Exploration and discovery, European history, Transportation, Boats, ships, and underwater craft,