Product Description

The explorer who discovered his own humanity.

In 1528, the conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca escaped a hostile reception in Florida only to be shipwrecked off the coast of Texas. For the next eight years, he lived among the native tribes of the Southwest while he journeyed towards the safety of the Spanish settlements in Mexico. He and three companions survived starvation, sickness and slavery thanks to the generosity of native peoples along the way.

When Cabeza de Vaca finally reached the Spanish, he was a changed man and led the struggle against the feudal-like exploitation of the New World populations. Stuart Waldman tells the fascinating story of two journeys: one covering 2,500 miles through unexplored territory, the other the transformation of a man's heart.

Excerpts from Cabeza de Vaca's journals make the reader's immersion into this mystifying world complete. The gatefold map allows the reader to follow the journey while reading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #517176 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8--Conquistador Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his men were shipwrecked on an island off the shore of Texas in 1528. Seeing how emaciated the Spaniards were, local Indians brought them food and water and cared for them. Cabeza de Vaca lived among the native tribes in the southwest for eight years, as he and three others walked toward the Spanish settlements in what today is Mexico. Enduring starvation, illness, and enslavement, they survived largely through the kindness of the Indians they met along the way. When the explorer finally reached the Spanish settlers, he tried to change their feudal-like treatment of indigenous people. Waldman's recounting is engaging, straightforward, and clear. Much of the text is based on Cabeza de Vaca's writings, which are frequently quoted in boxed insets, greatly enhancing readers' understanding of events. An epilogue explains what happened to the individuals mentioned in the narrative. A foldout map traces the journey on sea and land. McNeely's full- and double-page paintings capture the landscapes better than the people, who often look stiff. Most of the men's facial expressions appear as grimaces, and do not effectively portray their emotions. An absorbing story of adventure and self-discovery.--Peg Glisson, Mendon Center Elementary School, Pittsford, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Design is clean and inviting... gracefully ornamented sidebar quotations... fold-out map that can be easily accessed while reading. (Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 200402)

Engaging, straightforward, and clear... an absorbing story of adventure and self-discovery. (Peg Glizzon School Library Journal )

Incredible survival saga... compelling tale... should be essential reading for all students of American history. (Judy Green The Sacramento Bee )

About the Author
Stuart Waldman is an editor of children's books.

Tom McNeely's watercolors are both unflinching and stunningly gorgeous.

Customer Reviews

Riveting & beautifully written! A story about a man ahead of his time...
Before reading this book, I had never heard of Cabeza de Vaca. His story is one of the few about a European explorer who found the heart and soul of the people of the New World (basically Mexico) and he never betrayed them.

De Vaca came to the New World in search of gold, even though King Charles V charged him with making certain the indigenous people were being treated properly. Various circumstances brought him & his shipmates to the point where they were near starvation and had to put the ship ashore. The area on which they landed was populated by the Karankawa Indians. The tribe's people treated them with great kindness.

Through this experience (and others like it), de Vaca came to love and respect the people of the various tribes he encountered as his equals. He experienced the ultimate paradigm shift. He no longer thought as a European and Spaniard when dealing with the people of the New World. He regarded them not as savages beneath his rank, but as a fellow human beings. For that time period, this was an amazing change of heart and mind:

"Like all people, some were good, some were evil, some were cruel, some were kind, but there was one thing of which Cabeza de Vaca was now certain: Indians were human beings, children of God, and not animals to be bought and sold." (p. 36)

De Vaca and his men became know as healers and they became famous among the tribes inhabiting Mexico. Where ever they traveled they were asked to heal and the indigenous people attested to their abilities to do so. This exciting narrative will inspire children and adults to learn more about this European explorer who, although entirely human, broke the mold of his day.