The Legend of the White Doe - Hardcover

Grade 4-6 Hooks' story of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America, begins with the basic historical facts. But from the point where history tells no more, Hooks constructs a fantastic story in which elements of magic and folklore are wildly blended. On Croatoan Island, where the colonists sought shelter from the enmity of Chief Wanchese, the young widow Eleanor Dare falls into madness and throws herself into the sea, leaving the baby Virginia to be adopted by Chief Manteo's mother, Lady Winona. Renamed Ulalee, the child grows up to be courted by two rivals, a handsome young brave and an ugly old medicine man. When the young lovers run away they are caught in a magic ring of fire, and the evil medicine man transforms Ulalee into a white doe. She is shot and becomes a ghost deer, visible even to this day, as she wanders the Great Dismal Swamp. The Legend of the White Doe is handsomely designed with generous margins and graceful print. Readers will linger long over the eight full-page paintings which dramatically illustrate the story. But the tale itself is over-romantic and too fantastic to be credible. It lacks the simplicity and logic of genuine folklore. Historical narratives such as The Lost Colony (Watts, 1972; o.p.) by Dan Lacy have more poignancy in describing the unknown fate of these early settlers than Hooks' elaborately constructed ``legend.'' Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This little-known legend about the first English child born in America, Virginia Dare, is smoothly told and elegantly produced. It treats Virginia as a symbol of her Roanoke Island colony, whose inhabitants disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590. Raised devotedly by Indians, Virginia was killed, the legend relates, when she and her lover fled his rivalmuch as the colony itself was destroyed by rivals. Ultimately, Virginia was reborn in the form of a beautiful white doe that lives eternally, "a ghost deer." Although the meaning of the story is perhaps too subtle some young readers, the plot is strong. Nolan's lush cover picture of the lovers depicts them in flight, hair streaming, against deep green. While most of the other pictures are statically composed, they add to the story's haunting quality. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.