Spain had everything to gain. Portugal dominated the wildly lucrative spice trade, and Spain was desperate for a piece of the action.

Ferdinand Magellan had nothing to lose. After ten years of fighting for Portugal, he was left with little money, a crippled knee and his king's withering scorn. Magellan's need to make a success of his life matched Spain's desire for spice trade wealth. The result was the first voyage around the world.

As dangerous as the high-stakes, high-risk spice-seeking expedition appeared to be at the outset, the reality proved to be much worse. Magellan was guided by maps that were ten centuries out of date and thousands of miles wrong. The inaccuracies cost him dearly. Hunger, mutiny, murder, and disease dogged the three-year voyage, and Magellan was driven to ever greater extremes of brilliance, brutality, and madness as he struggled to keep his ships on course. Magellan gambled and lost. His voyage ended in tragedy for him, but the world was changed forever.




THE READ-ALONG™ MAP
For both the explorer and the reader, the key element of any voyage of discovery is the map. While the explorer can have the map in front of him, the reader usually cannot. There's nothing more frustrating than having to flip back to read a map in the middle of reading a story. For this book, Mikaya Press has designed a Read-Along™ Map. This gatefold page makes it possible to read about an explorer's travels, and follow them on a map at the same time.

Reviews
"In this fluidly written account, Waldman not only retraces Magellan's globe spanning expedition but places it in its context as a major blow to ancient, constricted views of the world's size and geography. Interspersed with maps both old and new, Manchess's big paintings of wave-tossed ships and rugged-looking sailors underscore the dangers of the long voyage and in a final spread capture Magellan's last moments… this makes an exciting tale that even readers who shy away from nonfiction will be drawn into…"

Kirkus Reviews

"Maps are key players in this large handsome book in the Great Explorer's series, with dramatic, fullpage paintings on thick paper that show Magellan's early sixteenth-century struggle in Europe and his stormy ocean journey around the world. In revealing Magellan's failures as well as his extraordinary achievements, Waldman tells a more complex story than the simplistic saga of European "discovery" that was once common classroom fare."

Booklist

"Full page maps and lush illustrations make this book about Magellan and his four year voyage around the globe a real standout. Readers learn about the man (incl. some brutal details!) and about the drama and danger of the voyage."

Best Children's Books.Org