A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla (published 1981) is a short early chapter book ideal for introducing the concept of colonizing America through exciting historical fiction. It highlights one family of three children as they navigate 16th century London, cross the Atlantic Ocean, and seek out their father in the struggling colony of Jamestown. They have many adventures along the way!
Ten-year-old Amanda Freebold is a bold girl eventually successful in improving the lot of her young siblings, seven-year-old Jemmy and five-year-old Meg. I really like how this historical fiction novel provided a glimpse into so many different aspects of seventeenth century life. It takes place in the house of a wealthy London family, on the streets of London, with a London doctor, on a ship over the Atlantic Ocean, life in a struggling British colony, and even on an island (near Bermuda). The young child reading Amanda’s story is exposed to many different parts of the world and different ways of living in this historical setting.
Some of the events are loosely based in reality, such as the “starving time” in Jamestown and the shipwreck in Barbados. Even though the majority of it is imagined, Amanda’s adventures felt realistic. Although there was “peril,” the fact that the children had the “lion”(a knocker for a front door of a house), the young reader is never worried about the eventual happy reunion between the Freebold kids and their father in Jamestown. It was just the right amount of suspense, at just the right length, and written with just the right writing style for my third grader and me to enjoy.
I read A Lion to Guard Us with my oldest when we did American history in elementary school. I read it with my middle child when she was the same age. Now, my youngest and I are enjoying it as a part of our American history studies. I’ll never tire of the appropriateness of A Lion to Guard Us for this age of child and as a part of early American history learning.
