Roanoke, the Lost Colony: An Unsolved Mystery from History »

Heidi Elizabet Yolen Stemple is Jane Yolen's daughter and sometime writing partner. Together they wrote the Unsolved Mysteries from History series. Heidi lives in Hatfield, MA.

Jane Yolen has won a number of awards for her body of work in children's literature, including the Regina Medal, the Kerlan Award, the Keene State Award, the Boston Public Library's Literary Lights for Children Award, and the Anna V. Zarrow Award. She has written more than three hundred books for children. Among them are Owl Moon, which won the Caldecott Medal; the bestselling How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?; Devil’s Arithmetic; and The Scarecrow’s Dance. Jane lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts.

Roger Roth has illustrated The Wolf Girls, The Mary Celeste, and Roanoke: The Lost Colony in the Unsolved Mystery from History series, as well as many other books for young readers. His work has been exhibited at the Society of Illustrators and has appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He resides in Springfield, Pennsylvania.

In 1587 John White was chosen by Sir Walter Raleigh to lead a new colony at Roanoke off the Atlantic coast. After bringing many men, women, and children to the new land, White went back to England to gather supplies for the long winter. But when he finally returned to the fort almost three years later, he found that all of the colonists had vanished. The only signs of life left were the letters CRO carved into a tree and the word CROATOAN carved into one of the fort's posts. Some people think that the Spanish army captured the colonists; some people think that the local native people murdered them; others think that the colonists went off to live with the native people and start a new life. Still others think that the colonists tried to sail home to England and were lost at sea. No one knows for sure.

Become a detective as you read this true story, study the clues, and try to figure out the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke. The Unsolved Mystery from History series is written by acclaimed author Jane Yolen and former private investigator Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple. Read carefully and check your clues. You might be the first to solve a puzzle that has baffled people for years.

Publishers Weekly

The third volume in the Unsolved Mystery from History series, Roanoke: The Lost Colony by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple, illus. by Roger Roth, once again invites readers to use their detective skills to solve a puzzle from the past. In this intriguing entry, English colonists at Roanoke vanish sometime between 1587 and 1590, accompanied by atmospheric pencil and watercolor artwork. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.