The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery by Padraic Colum (published 1925; reissued 2022 by Smidgen Press) was awarded a 1926 Newbery Honor. The subtitle describes the book very well. With a framework of Henry the Navigator viewing the Atlantic from a tall tower, various medieval scholars tell the tales of the lost islands of the sea, most of which are certainly fictional inventions. The second half of the book describes a few of the actual explorers who traveled to the Americas, mostly retold in a romantic voice and the fictionalized perspective of tradition. They nicely meet the tone of the fantastical stories.
For example, as the author describes the Viking explorers, it includes dialogue and tells the feelings of the people involved. When I consider when the book was written (the 1920s), it seems clear that for the author these were also fantastical traditions! It wasn’t until the 1960s that definitive archeological evidence was discovered in Canadian land that confirmed the Scandinavian traditions from a thousand years previous. It is now clear that Europeans such as the Vikings had settled in the land for a time. The structure of dwellings and the tools discovered correlate to traditions.
The fictional legends include the stories of Atlantis, Maelduin, and Saint Brendan. These were full of magical elements, and the voyages of the latter two included time spent on islands that felt similar to the types of magical islands Odysseus encountered on his voyages. These were epic legends indeed, but I’ll admit they dragged on and on and seemed less interesting to me.
The second half of the book included tales of real people. The original subtitle named it as “Legends and Histories” but the recent reissue indicated instead that is “Legends and Romances,” which much better describes these perspectives of Columbus, Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth, the colonists of Virginia (such as Pocahontas, John Smith, and John Rolfe), and Amerigo Vespucci.
It is an obviously fictionalized version of history. The is very little indication of Columbus’ actual character and treatment of the Native Americans, of course. The drama of Ponce de Leon includes his entire company dying on the way and he himself falling dead within inches of the Fountain of Youth.
Nevertheless, I highly enjoyed these, and Ponce de Leon’s story was an amusing highlight for me. This Newbery Honor book was really not bad and I was happily surprised!
Newbery rating scale: FANTASTIC | REALLY GOOD | PRETTY GOOD | OKAY | BLAH
What to do with this Newbery: KEEP IT AND READ IT | MAYBE IF YOU HAVE TIME | DON’T BOTHER