History Mystery: Roanoke, The Lost Colony

The History Mystery series:

• The Wolf Girls
• The Mary Celeste
• Roanoke, the Lost Colony
• The Salem Witch Trials

In many ways this book was the hardest of all to write so far of the Unsolved Mysteries, because it had three separate stories of travel to America by boat, with slaughters on all sides, and then a missing colony. Also, because it dealt in part with Native Americans, Heidi and I felt strongly that we needed to have the book vetted by an expert. We asked my friend, Joe Bruchac, to do that and he, with his usual good will and candor, helped us enormously. Then September 11 threw us all off track for months. So the book was late, but finally pulled together. The pictures by Roger Roth are stunning. He goes from strength to strength in the series.

What reviewers have said:

• “There’s a lot going on here: a framework story, the historical account, the ending hypotheses, and the addition of “notebook pages” with background information; children may need to read the book more than once to take it all in. The large, picture-book format offers plenty of scope for Roth’s appealing narrative illustrations in watercolor and pencil. An attractive, intriguing introduction to the lost colony.” — Booklist
• “This is an excellent book and a worthy addition to the wonderful series that the <authors> have started. More than that, it stands alone as an excellent historical treatment of one of American history’s most enduring puzzles.” — Social Studies for Kids
• “The third volume in the Unsolved Mystery from History series. . .once again invites readers to use their detective skills to solve a puzzle from the past. In this intriguing entry, English colonists at Roanoke vanish sometime between 1587 and 1590, accompanied by atmospheric pencil and watercolor artwork.”-PW