DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA

The popular poets biographer, and author of juvenile history and biography, turns to prime sources in accounts of early exploration and colonizing in America--with generally pleasing results. Grouping his adventurers, sea captains, explorers by locale, Mr. Norman fills in the incidence of European arrivals to ""the garden that was America""--Atlantic Coast ""heartland,"" Canada, Florida and the Indies, Virginia, New England, etc. Along with the modernized, simplified version of original writings, in English or in translation, Mr. Norman supplies a smooth, leisurely commentary, stressing geographical and historical background. Predictably only the more dramatic and revealing sections of the journals, logs, etc. are used, and therefore this is less than satisfactory as a student source book. However, for the general reader pegged for history and adventure, this is a useful and informative survey.