A Lion to Guard Us

Bulla's books are always interesting. Even his historical fiction has a little something special. In this case, the story is based on a real-life adventure, the one which inspired the setting for Shakespeare's *The Tempest.* It might even be a four-star book, but I am so tired of children's HF.

Featuring a heroine with faith, courage, and a great deal of grit, this acclaimed historical fiction novel portrays the realities faced by three children hoping to find a new home in an unknown land.
Amanda Freebold doesn't know what to do. Her father left three years ago for the new colony of Jamestown in America, thousands of miles away. But now that her mother has died, Amanda is left to take care of her younger brother and sister all alone back in England.
As the new head of the family, Amanda finally decides to take her brother and sister to America to find Father. The ocean crossing is long and hard, and the children don't know whom to trust. But with her father's little brass lion's head to guard them, Amanda knows that somehow show more everything will work out. show less

On June 2, 1609, the Sea Adventure plus eight other ships sailed from Plymouth, England bound for the colony Virginia. These ships were bringing relief to the settlers of Jamestown as this young colony was at war with the natives and facing starvation. A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla is a children’s tale based on this episode. During the crossing a massive storm struck and drove the Sea Adventure aground off the shore of Bermuda. The settlers spent nine months on Bermuda and managed to built two smaller ships that they sailed safely to Jamestown. They luckily brought a lot of food with them from Bermuda and these supplies helped to keep Jamestown going until more ships arrived from London.

A Lion to Guard Us is aimed at show more children that are 8 to 12 years and because of this there really isn’t a lot of detail added to the story or character development. Amanda is a thirteen year old girl who after the death of her mother, is trying to get herself and her younger sister and brother to Jamestown to find their father. They find a berth on the Sea Adventure. The historical details are slight with most of the author’s attention being on the story of these children dealing with all that is placed in their way. Written in a straight forward, simple style for middle school age children, I think perhaps this story might be too simple to appeal to today’s children. It is interesting to note that the story of the Sea Adventure caught the attention of William Shakespeare and he went on to base his play The Tempest on this lost ship. show less

While this YA book is not of the caliber of David Almond or Robert Westall, it was worth the read. It is a simply written fictionalized account of three English children who, because their mother died, went to sea in the hope of locating their father who had previously traveled to the newly settled colony of Jamestown.

While aboard the voyage of the Sea Adventure in 1609, the ship heading for Jamestown was storm tossed and wrecked in Bermuda.

Interestingly, the actual shipwreck was the inspiration for Shakespeare's final play The Tempest. Miraculously all members of the Sea Adventure were saved, spent nine months on Bermuda, built two ships and then sailed to Jamestown.

When arriving in Jamestown, they found that only a small band of show more people survived the harsh conditions of rugged Virginia.

With only a small trinket to guide them -- a door knocker in the shape of a lion previously given to them by their father -- the children clung to the hope of finding him and a new life of promise. show less

This one's a fictionalized account of the last voyage of the Sea Adventure in 1609. When enroute to the Jamestown colony, it was separated from it's fleet by a storm and ran aground in Bermuda. No lives were lost, but everybody had to spend nine months on the island while they waited for help and eventually built two ships to carry them on to Virginia. The account of the storm and the shipwreck was Shakespeare's inspiration for The Tempest. This story, however, is much shorter. It tells of three children, whose father has gone off to Jamestown to build a new home for the family. Unfortunately, their mother gets ill and dies and the three children face the challenge of either settling down to a life of servitude and poverty or making an show more ambitious journey across the ocean. It's a simplistic tale, being written for children and all, but an enjoyable one as well. Check it out.
--J. show less

Amanda Freebold doesn't know what to do. Her father left three years ago for the new colony of Jamestown, in America, thousands of miles away. All Amanda has to remember him by is a little brass lion's head he gave his family to guard them while he is gone. Now her mother has just died, leaving Amanda to take care of her younger brother and sister.

As head of the family, Amanda finally decides to take her brother and sister to America to find Father. The ocean crossing is long and hard, and the children don't know whom to trust. But with the lion's head to guard them, Amanda Knows that somehow everything will work out fine.

Summary: In this book their are three children, who are forced to try and fend for themselves. Their father is in America trying to help settle the new colonies, but shortly after he left, the mother became extremely sick and passed away. They decided they would take a boat to America in hopes of finding their father, but a terrible storm comes and causes a shipwreck, leaving them stranded on an island. They have to endure many trials while living on the island with the other families as they wait for a new ship to be built.

Personal Reaction: I couldn't believe this was a children's book, because I did not want to set it down. The book uses great detail in order to draw you in to the story. I am sure children between the ages of third show more to sixth grade would really enjoy getting to read this book.

Classroom Extension:
1. After the child read the book, I would have them do an art project. I would give them supplies like rocks, sticks, popsicle sticks, leaves, etc... and I would have them build their own mini hut, like what they imagined the ones that the children were living in on the island.
2. I would do a "tell your own island story" work sheet were the children would use their imagination in order to tell what they think it would be like to be stranded on an island and how they would use their brains to escape. show less