The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce

By: Ann Rinaldi

Grades 4-5

HISTORICAL FICTION

NOVEL

This book was about a 14 year old orphan traveling as an indentured servant to the New World. Jasper had been separated from his brother and decided to keep a journal of his journey to share with his bother some day. In the journal Jasper talks about the journey over the ocean. He discusses in the journal their near death experiences from almost starving to death on the boat and on land. The journal is filled with the struggles they experienced along the way. He also journals about their tough encounters with the Indians when they arrived. He felt the struggles they went through was worth it because they got to escape the domination that was occurring in England and go towards the idea of religious freedom! In his journal he discusses the time that he got to live with the Indians and learn their ways. If it weren't for the Native Americans the Pilgrims probably wouldn't have survived in the New World. This book would be great to include in the classroom. This book could be integrated with history and language arts. This book is fiction but has a lot of the historical facts included from the voyage of the Pilgrims to the New World. Students could truly learn a lot about this time period and what occurred through reading this interesting book instead of strictly reading textbooks that they lose interest in easily. I would definitely include this in my classroom when covering this topic.