My Side of the Story is completely unique approach to historical fiction. Read the story of one youngster's life in turbulent times, then flip the book and find out first hand how another child reacts to the same events - with very different feelings and results! 12 year old Elias is one of the first people to arrive in Jamestown as the English colonists land on America's east coast. Elias is an apprentice surgeon, and is both excited and a little frightened at the new life he is starting out. Initally the new arrivals are friendly with native Pamunkee tribes, but when the settlers establish new ways, friction and tough times result. In the woods Elias comes across a young Pamunkee boy who only speaks in the native tongue. But the boy's sister speaks some English and flax-coloured hair. Elias is intrigued by this girl and begins a friendship with her, a friendship that will be sorely tested by the conflicts of the natives and colonists... 13 year old Sacahocan is a bright Pamunkee Indian girl. She witnesses the arrival of the fleet of English ships and is anxious like her fellow tribespeople. Kecuttannowas, and the preparations for the ceremony are under way. However, fate intervenes. Not only are the colonists causing trouble for her people, she has also met a young English boy Elias who she likes spending time with. What will happen when events outside her control force Sacahocan to decide between her logic and her feelings?

Two English children are told the story of their grandfather's experiences as one of the original Jamestown colonists of 1607.

In April 1607, twelve-year-old Sam Collier and a group of Englishmen landed in North America. Arriving as an assistant to the solider John Smith, Sam was excited to discover what adventures lay before him in the new land soon to be known as Virginia. But the months ahead would soon prove to be a harsh test. Facing sickness and starvation and sudden attack, Sam had to use all his wits if he were to survive. Could Sam and his fellow settlers trust Virginia’s Indians to help them? Could they learn to survive in this strange new land?

Twelve-year-old Samuel Collier is a lowly commoner on the streets of London. So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can’t believe his good fortune. He’s heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he imagined. The lush Virginia shore where they establish the colony of James Town is both beautiful and forbidding, and it’s hard to know who’s a friend or foe. As he learns the language of the Algonquian Indians and observes Captain Smith’s wise diplomacy, Samuel begins to see that he can be whomever he wants to be in this new land.

This is an account of the first permanent English settlement in North America, which was established in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia.

From the establishment of the first permanent English colony at Jamestown in 1607 to the fall of Richmond in 1865, the James River has been instrumental in the formation of modern America. It was along the James that British and Native American cultures collided and, in a twisted paradox, the seeds of democracy and slavery were sown side by side. The culture crafted by Virginia's learned aristocrats, merchants, farmers, and frontiersmen gave voice to the cause of the American Revolution and provided a vision for the fledgling independent nation's future. Over the course of the United States' first century, the James River bore witness to the irreconcilable contradiction of a slave-holding nation dedicated to liberty and equality for all. When that intractable conflict ignited civil war, the James River served as a critical backdrop for the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. As he guides readers through this exciting historical narrative, Deans gives life to a dynamic cast of characters including the familiar Powhatan, John Smith, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Benedict Arnold, and Robert E. Lee, as well as those who have largely escaped historical notoriety. The River Where America Began takes readers on a journey along the James River from the earliest days of civilization nearly 15,000 years ago through the troubled English settlement at Jamestown and finishes with Lincoln's tour of the defeated capital of Richmond in 1865. Deans traces the historical course of a river whose contributions to American life are both immeasurable and unique. This innovative history invites us all to look into these restless waters in a way that connects us to our past and reminds us of who we are as Americans.