Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars: 1689-1763

The American Story #4

by Betsy Maestro, Giulio Maestro (Illustrator)

As early as 1630, Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands had settlements or colonies in North America. Always looking for ways to expand their territory, these European nations were constantly at war with one another over trade, borders, and religious differences. Beginning in 1689, their conflicts in Europe spread across the Atlantic to America. Over the next seventy years, competing European powers would battle for control of the New World. The winner would take the prize -- all of North America. Struggle for a Continent tells the riveting story of the French and Indian Wars seventy-four years of fighting that determined the destiny of the future United States. Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies 2001, National Council for SS & Child. Book Council

Genres: History, Picture Books, American History, School, Childrens, Historical, Nonfiction

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Before beginning her career in children's books, Betsy Maestro was a teacher. Her first book with Giulio Maestro was A Wise Monkey Tale published in 1975, and since then they have collaborated on more than one hundred books. Their on-going American Story series began with the highly acclaimed The Discovery of the Americas and continues to help young readers understand and appreciate our nations history.

The Maestros live with two cats and a goldfish in a converted cow barn in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Jennine · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 2nd grade son randomly checked this out of the school library, so we took the opportunity to read it. It was very dense, but the pictures were very detailed, well-labeled, and he had a great time really getting into the pictures, asking a million questions about all kinds of details. We learned the overall picture -- who was fighting, some of the reasons why, how the Native Americans engaged and why, why different areas of North America have differing cultural backgrounds, how brutal and hard these times were. I really appreciated that they mentioned that "not all were free" during the colonial era and introduced slavery a bit, the broken promises of colonists to the Native Americans, the kidnapping of Native people for slavery in the West Indies, and the way that colonialism disrupted the lives of Native people. We had engaging dinner table conversations about the history, wilderness fighting vs traditional European battle styles, and oppression through white imperialism. Great book!

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The colonial conflicts between England and France and their native allies during the course of the late 17th and 18th centuries are covered by author/illustrator team (and husband and wife) Betsy and Giulio Maestro in this fourth installment of their picture book history series, The American Story. Opening in 1689, when the previous volume closed, they set out the relative position of English and French (and Spanish) settlement and exploration of the North American continent, pinpointing a key factor in future events: namely, that the while the French had claimed vast swathes of land and had a successful fur trade, the English had settled many times more people, and greatly outnumbered them. The conflicts between the French and their largely Algonquian allies and the English and their Iroquoian allies were largely over issues of trade and land, but were also tied to conflicts between the European powers at home. The book covers King William's War, a part of the Nine Year's War, which raged in the Americas between 1689 and 1697; Queen Anne's War, a part of the War of the Spanish Succession, active in the colonies between 1702 and 1713; and the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748), which occurred largely in the Caribbean and in the areas of Florida and Georgia. This latter led to the European War of the Austrian Succession, known in North America as King George's War, which occurred largely in what is now the northeastern US and maritime Canada. Finally, the French and Indian War (1754-1763), which decided the dominance of English power on the continent is covered. The book closes with back matter including additional information about Colonial America, explorations and explorers of the period, and an index.

Published in 2000, Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars: 1689-1763 is an engaging and informative addition to the Maestros' series about American history, and an excellent follow-up to its three predecessors, The Discovery of the Americas , Exploration and Conquest: The Americas After Columbus: 1500-1620 and The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689 . Like those predecessors, it covers a wide range of events in a coherent and intelligible way, tying the various conflicts under discussion into the wider theme, while also giving specifics about each one. As always, I appreciated the fact that the authors didn't sugar-coat the less-than-admirable aspects of the history being covered—the sale and use of slaves, including in the northern part of the continent; the damage and destruction conflicts with European colonials brought to many native peoples—while not allowing their narrative to be overtaken by those themes. It's a fine balance to walk, and I think they did an excellent job, creating a solidly worthwhile overview of the history of this period for young people. I also appreciated the thematic approach here, and the coverage of more than just the French and Indian War itself, as I don't recall much attention being given to King William's War, Queen Anne's War or King George's War, in the AP course I took on American history in high school, let alone at the grade school level for which this book is intended. The accompanying artwork from Giulio Maestro, done in pen and ink, watercolor and colored pencil, is well-matched to the text, and also engaging. All in all, much like previous volumes in the series, I think this could make an excellent basic text for this subject, when teaching children—both in a classroom and homeschool setting—and could be used with other titles that cover and expand upon specific topics within it. It is for that purpose that I would recommend it.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew nothing about the French and Indian Wars except the name. It seemed like a very confusing time between the settlement of the colonies and the Revolutionary War. Indeed it took place over a period of 75 years, and it WAS somewhat confusing. But this book by Betsy Maestro helped clear up a lot of things for me. I am teaching two homeschooled teens this year in American history and I am having to learn and relearn so many things. So although this book was written for middle schoolers, I found it very helpful in helping my teens navigate through the F&I Wars.

The book is full-color, double-page spreads, and helps the reader understand some of the reasons for the war. The British and French were fighting each other at home and abroad and they expected their colonists to help in the effort. They were also struggling for the control of the American continent, an epic contest with winner-take-all rewards. The British colonial holdings stretched along the eastern seacoast, while the French claimed most of the rest of the land clear to the Rocky Mountains. However, the French were mostly trappers, not settlers, and were friends with many Indian tribes. There were only a few French compared to the numbers of British settlers. In some instances loyalties were mixed among the various Indian tribes, and even within a particular tribe.
No wonder there is much confusion about the F&I wars, as battles were won, battles were lost, land was gained only to be lost again.
The main stories to come out of this time of conflict are the Indian captivity stories, and there are many. Mostly from the white settlers point of view but some from the Native American point of view. Some of the books I have used in my class to illustrate this period were: The Matchlock Gun, Alone Yet Not Alone, I am Regina, The Winter People, The Sign of the Beaver, Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, Calico Captive, and Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau a French Slave Girl, New York Colony 1763. I love learning history through literature. I am looking forward to more books by Betsy Maestro to help me navigate through more American History!

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very detailed and at times a little dry. However, it is better than a textbook! Overall, we've been really impressed with this series of picture books for providing an overview of early American history. Others in the series include: The Discovery of the Americas: From Prehistory Through the Age of Columbus, Exploration and Conquest: The Americas After Columbus: 1500-1620 and The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689.

[Heather Nations · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to see if it was going to be useful for my 8th grader this year. I originally chose it because I thought it was going to have more of a picture book feel to it so I could use it as a read aloud with the younger ones too, but the readability of it was more similar to a textbook. The pictures in it were fantastic, but I think that the writing could have been a bit more narrative to go along with the picture book feel that I got from the cover. It covers all the important information that my 8th grader needed this year. I thought it started out a bit dry/slow, but by the end I found it quite an enjoyable read. It was a great refresher of The French and Indian War (plus other battles before the "official" one). My 13 year old, however, said it was too long.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely too wordy, but we picked some of the most important parts and learned a lot about why the Indians would want to engage in this war in the first place. We especially liked the part about General Braddock and the Battle of the Wilderness.

[Michelle Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent as a history book for my 4th grader. Very engaging and well explained… my son especially loved how the battle scenes are drawn out and the many illustrations. Highly recommend this series for later elementary age.

[Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, but some of the writing is dry. It has a lot of good info packed into it though, so it's worthwhile. It may go over some younger kids' heads, but the illustrations should captivate and help them remember some of it. I used it in my homeschool with a 4th grader.

[Kate Standiford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an engaging way to read history

[Leila Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great, beautiful pictures, nice layout, and lots of information. I read it aloud to my grade 2 and grade 3 students. Since it is a lot of information, we spread it out over many sessions.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book to convey the many conflicts, wars, and interests represented in “The French and Indian wars” from 1689-1763

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

We finished this a few weeks ago, but I'm behind on reviews. Sorry. Overall I felt that this book did an excellent job teaching about the French and Indian Wars. The pictures were very helpful but sometimes a little bloody. Nothing gross, but it was there. We enjoyed learning about many of the battles and tactics and then discussed how we might have done it or what they should have done differently. I had each boy build a model of a battle when we were done and they had fun blowing up Lego guys and shooting down rows of soldiers. Should that worry me???

Most of the Maestro books have a slight White Man Is Bad flavor to them. We always take the time to discuss that hurtful and unjust things were done on both sides. I feel that the value of the books (especially since there are very few children's books about the French and Indian Wars) outweigh the negatives.

This book was a little harder for my 6-yr-old to understand. He's been great with the earlier books but I think all the names and battles and such made it difficult to remember. Probably best for 2nd or 3rd grade on up.

Recommended.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

School. 'nough said. Two stars because it was A) a kid book and B) .... really school like. I don't know how to describe it.

And I'm not sure why I had to read it. It didn't really give me any info I didn't know about the French and Indian War.

Well, there's a little I didn't know about: like, the really strange war called, wait for it, the War of Jenkins' Ear, started because a sailor claimed his ear had been cut off by the Spanish (causing an entire war to start!!!!). I know. So weird and ridiculous. That's probably the only thing that stood out to me...

Anyway, two stars.

[Jeffrey Gao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, my 100th review!
A truly grand adventure through this fascinating time in North American history before the American Revolution, Struggle for a Continent offers epic battles, stunning artwork, and plenty of tantalizing facts to feed your hungry mind. I loved this all the way back when I sneaked off to read it in third grade and it mostly holds up.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief history of the French and Indian War, Struggle for a Continent didn't cover all 'major' events. Though, it provided a good overview of the powers involved in the fighting for dominance over the Eastern seaboard from 1630 to 1763.

[Augoustine Andreou · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors writing style and illustrations makes this book appealing for students to read as opposed to reading facts out of a text book. In addition, this is a excellent book to utilize when teaching children notable access features and visual displays of a nonfiction book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Maestro's history books for younger children, and this is one of the best.

[Debye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting kids book that introduces the French & Indian Wars in America.

[Amy Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect read-aloud to serve as a springboard for more serious study.

[William Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the history but some of the words were hard to understand