TFJB3YPT

Prince Henry The Navigator by Leonard Everett Fisher is a nonfiction book that contains 28 pages of historical information geared toward young readers ages 9-12 and is about a Spanish prince whose desire was to explore more of Africa and to find the shortest route to India in order to obtain the spices and other riches this country had to offer. The book also includes attractive, black and white illustrations that are creative addition to the well-written text, helping readers to visualize the events of the story. The book explains that although his brothers wanted to experience victories in battle, Henry wanted to be a great explorer of new territory which he determined must be done by sailing uncharted seas in order to find them; an activity that was rarely done and feared by most.

In summary, Prince Henry was determined to find a passage to India and he believed that sailing around the continent of Africa was the only way to do it. His passion, therefore, inspired him to build a house and chapel at Sagres at the tip of Portugal where he studied books and maps about sailing the open seas. He also brought sea captains, navigators, mapmakers, astronomers, and geographers together and formed a school of navigation in an effort to make his exploration excursions possible. Henry offered prize money to anyone who would sail down the western coast of Africa and turn east to find India. To make sure the voyage was a success, he had his experts improve customary instruments that were used by mariners; the circular astrolabe that measured the angle of stars; the triangular quadrant that measured the height of the sun or stars above the horizon; and the compass that set a course in any direction - north, south, east or west. These tools allowed mariners to navigate in the open ocean away from land.

An interesting fact that emerged in the book is the fact that Henry never went on any of his expeditions, but ordered his captains to maintain written logs of their experiences and course at sea. Prince Henry was also displeased with his current ships and commissioned shipbuilders to design a vessel that was not only fast, but that could cut through rough seas with a rudder that could quickly turn the ship. In the nearby town of Lagos, shipbuilders designed an innovative sea vessel called the caravel. With these new ships, Henry's captains discovered the Azores, a group of islands 1,000 miles from Sagres. Henry pushed his captains to go further down the west African coast where they found gold to finance more expeditions. With the pressure on to push further to find India and not being content with trading goods for gold, some of Henry's captains turned to immoral methods of gaining the funds necessary to continue their travels by kidnapping black West Africans and selling them in Lagos as slaves. At first, Henry did nothing to stop his men, but later ordered them to put an end to this practice, but without success. Over the years, slavery made it to the shores of North America, a continent that was unknown to Henry. In 1460, the money soon dried up, the expeditions ceased, and Prince Henry died that same year never making it to India. Several years later, Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa and arrived at Calcutta in 1498. Although Henry never experienced the voyages he commissioned, his school of navigation helped future mariners to venture into deep ocean waters and eventually discover the Americas.

The accuracy of the information presented in this book by the author is evident in the fact that other research backs up its findings which are written in third person narrative. The author also appears qualified to present this information because he is a distinguished author/illustrator of many other books for young readers, as well as a recipient of the 1989 Nonfiction Award.

With the target audience in mind, Fisher does not go into too much depth about prince Henry's work, but rather skims the surface of what took place. The style of language, however, is clear and accessible for the designated reader, with a logical order to the events of the story. The information discussed in the book is straight forward in an effort to inform the reader, therefore, not much figurative language is utilized. The language is also precise at time, especially when the author writes about the instruments used in navigation. The overall tone is one that seems to be neutral, but written in a way that still keeps the reader interested in wanting to know what happens.

In terms of organization, the book is told in chronological order as the events took place in history. And the only reference aid present is in the form of an Epilogue telling the reader more about what happened after Prince Henry's death when Christopher Columbus used much of what Henry taught at his navigation school to sail successfully to the west.

As was mentioned previously, interesting illustrations add to the text by helping readers to better visualize the events taking place. A sidebar of a chronology of events is also offered to allow the reader to know the significant events that took place on specific dates, along with a map partially showing southern Europe where Prince Henry lived and Africa, with an outline of the other continents on Earth located below this. I believe the map useful because it helps the reader to contextualize the information presented and even offers a small scale to designate miles.

As a future middle school English teacher, I would probably not use this book to teach my students because it is more of a historical value than a literary one, in my opinion. Although the book is well done, the black and white pictures do not promote enthusiasm for the reader and the text is historically to the point with little descriptive language to peak the reader's interest. The only way I feel that I could teach this book effectively would be to assign a biographical sketch on Prince Henry. I would, therefore, only recommend this book to history buffs. ( )