Encounter

Encounter
by Jane Yolen
Illustrated by David Shannon

In this book, Jane Yolen tells the story of Christopher Columbus, from a young native American's perspective. The Island that Christopher Columbus landed on in San Salvador was inhabited by the Taino people.

I really enjoyed this unique perspective, and can imagine using this book as a part of a social studies unit. I thought it was interesting that in the illustrator's notes at the end of the book, Shannon shared that he struggled a bit with the illustrations. He explained that "as far as we know, the native people wore no clothing, so I was faced with the problem of how to represent them without offending those who object to nudity in a children's book." In the end, he chose to illustrate the natives with a cloth covering. As we analyzed controversial books earlier this semester, it is interesting to learn a little bit about one illustrators struggles with dealing with this potential controversy.

In general, I am not a fan of David Shannon's illustrations. The illustrations in this book, however, evoke a mysterious and dark emotion, which I believe fits the narrative in this book well.