MY ADVENTURES WITH JOHN SMITH
by
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As I look back now, over my long span of years, I can point to a steamy April morning, in the year 1597, when my life changed and would never be the same again. Of course, at the time, I had no idea how dramatic the change would be or that, eventually, I would team with a modern day Odysseus, and together we would start the first, permanent English settlement in the
That steamy, April day began innocently enough. At sunrise, I was awakened by the howling of the howler monkeys and the clacking teeth of the yawning alligators. I stretched my neck, ruffled my feathers, sipped some morning dew, then did my usual vocalizing after which I flew over to my favorite, rotting tree trunk which offered up a breakfast of beetles, worms, centipedes and such. And then, suddenly, things got
ugly. First I heard heavy, alien footsteps, and then a man’s voice shouted, “Over there! Get him!” I took to the air, but I couldn’t accelerate fast enough. A net was tossed over me, and I was yanked to the ground. I pecked and clawed at the netting to no avail. “This is not fair!” I shouted. “You have no right to come into my habitat and turn me into a captive.”
“Aw, pipe down, you windbag.”
“Oh nice,” I said. “Real nice.”
I was rolled over and over until the net squeezed me like a python, and I had to fight for every breath. I was thrown into a canoe with a number of other bound birds, monkeys and gators most of whom I vaguely recognized. “Any idea what’s going on here?” I said.
“The world is changing,” moaned another parrot. “No one is safe.”
We were canoed down a river, and when we got to the ocean, we were put on a huge ship with three sails and a polyglot crew.
They stowed us below decks with the rats and the rancid meat and rotting wood. When we hit a squall, the ship would shiver, the bilge water would slosh and the timbers would creak.
Three weeks later, the ship stopped moving,
“Where are we?” I said to one of the sailors.
“We’re in the port town of
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About the Book
John Smith was the son of an English farmer. He went on to become a jousting knight, a decorated war hero, a slave, an escaped slave, a cartographer, a pirate, and most remarkable of all, the president of the Jamestown Colony. As president he ruled over aristocrats, negotiated with Chief Powhatan and befriended Pocahontas. His feats of daring on three continents are all the more remarkable, because they’re true! Meet Smith and his wisecracking, fast-talking parrot who narrates this action-packed saga.
“This is history that kids will find irresistible.”- Professor James Stigler, UCLA.
About the Author
While teaching his fifth grade class about John Smith, Jeff Lantos was struck by the number of incredible adventures and escapes Smith had. He decided to tell Smith’s story in a way it’s never been told before. Lantos is both an award-winning teacher and an award-winning writer. In addition to publishing numerous essays in the LOS ANGELES TIMES and COSMOPOLITAN, he was, for 13 years, a staff writer for MOVIELINE MAGAZINE where he wrote profiles of