Trading Thomas: Jamestown’s Boy Interpreter
In 1606, eleven-year-old Thomas Savage’s father announces he’s sailing from England to America to help establish a new colony named James Towne. Devastated when his father refuses to take him along, Thomas stares bleakly at a future as a vicar—a profession his parents have chosen for him. Intelligent and curious, Thomas yearns to become a tutor like his older brother, Richard. After a terrible accident, Thomas’s dying mother tells him he must go to James Towne to bring his father home to care for his two younger sisters. Richard opts to join him, and the two set off across the Atlantic.
The brothers arrive in James Towne to discover their father was killed by Natives the previous summer. Now an orphan, Thomas is traded to Powhatan to keep peace with the Natives and to learn their language to become an interpreter. Through Thomas, readers get an outsider’s perspective on the colonists’ laziness that would contribute to their own demise during the Starving Time of 1609-1610. Thomas finds himself disgusted by the duplicity on both sides and realizes he’s not truly safe either with Powhatan’s people or in James Towne.
Author Ora Smith has crafted a captivating young adult novel rich with emotion and historic detail. Thomas is deeply torn between his kinsmen and the Natives he considers friends, including Pocahontas, who is accurately depicted as the child she was at the time. A strong inspirational throughline brings a touch of spirituality to the story, and extensive front and back matter provide historical context for the setting and characters. Readers should note that the novel includes graphic descriptions of the Powhatans’ methods of torture as well as the desperate measures colonists resorted to during the Starving Time. On the whole, this is a solid contribution to young adult literature set during colonial times.
