THE BOY WHO SAILED WITH COLUMBUS

The New and Old Worlds exchange captives in a tale of a ship's boy who is left behind by Columbus and grows up to be a respected sage and healer. Young Leif is thrilled to be on the adventure of a lifetime, but disturbed when he sees natives kidnapped to display back in Spain. Then Leif himself is captured and taken to the mainland, where he becomes ``Morning Star,'' the ``eyes'' of a blind old wise man. Years later, seeing European ships off his adopted coast and having forebodings of what is to come, he flees westward with his family. Small details and vignettes accent the spacious, oblong blocks of text and also link Foreman's full-page watercolors—all lit by explosions of reds and blues and livened up by occasional comic touches. Human figures are generally small (and frequently naked), but always the focus of action. Columbus's accomplishments and attitudes are getting plenty of scrutiny; though Foreman's story is only loosely based on the historical record, and has more action than analysis, it should set readers thinking. (Fiction. 9-11)