Imagine your shock at waking up one morning to a fleet of enormous, otherworldly craft looming over you. And when bizarre aliens begin to emerge - speaking strange gibberish - your heart races even faster. Similar fears may have gripped New World inhabitants when diverse civilizations - separated by a vast ocean - first met. American natives once knew nothing of towering ships, galloping horses, thundering guns, or smallpox. From 1492 onward, however, waves of adventurers would give them a cruel introduction. And yet, ultimately, New World dwellers - together with their Old World counterparts - would become transformed by these global connections. Historian and author Marc Aronson - a Library Journal Best Book honoree and a Robert F. Sibert Award winner for excellence in nonfiction - teams up with John W. Glenn to give kids and their parents a fresh perspective on New World exploration.