This Scholastic soft-covered book may be small, but it has lots of information about the American Colonial period. Particularly interesting, the facts are told from a child?s perspective; what they wore, ate and did during an average day.
Since I am working on my family?s genealogy, these facts will help flesh-out our ancestor?s lives. Genealogy, in and of itself, can be dry and boring. By adding bits of information from this book, the story is more likely to be interesting to readers.
This book explains life in the New England colonies during the years 1650 ? 1730. Using the ?question-and-answer? format, it is easy to find the info you want.
McGovern did an excellent job of explaining how hard life was in colonial times; but she also makes many points about the joy and fun children experienced regularly. The illustrations by June Otani help one understand some of the stranger aspects of life in early America.
My favorite example was ?pudding.? No, it wasn?t a desert; pudding was a soft pillow worn around a baby?s middle that protected the child from being hurt. According to Otani, a pudding looks like a full inner tube, with a baby in the center. There are straps for the babe?s shoulders, to keep it in place.
Because Colonial life was a mixture of things as we have now (some doctors and a few books), and things long-gone (a tithing-man made sure children weren?t talking or wriggling during church and woke adults/children nodding off during church), this is a charming book for young and old.
Both the words and illustrations were excellent: 5 stars.
