If You Lived At the Time of the Civil War

by Kay Moore, Anni Matsick (Illustrations)

If you lived at the time of the Civil War
--Would you have seen a battle?
--Did you continue to go to school?
--Was it hard to get food?

This book tells you what it was like to live at the time of the Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Civil War, Childrens, Picture Books, School

64 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Growing up in Hampstead, Maryland, I was close to many historical sites and enjoyed visiting them to hear the stories of the people who lived/died at those places. After moving to California, I have lived for many years near Coloma where gold was discovered in 1848. I draw upon my love of history in my non-fiction books for young readers and try to promote stories/people that have not been written about. These lost voices need to be heard to have a complete picture of America's past. I have been in education for many years as an elementary classroom teacher and University professor (California State University, Sacramento). I am a Past President of the California Reading Association (1994-1995) and a member of the California Reading Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Lauren White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for grades 2-6

[Cala · Rating 4 out of 5]

A general overview of life during the Civil War and how things changed both in the North and the South during and after the war. Read aloud to my 5 y.o. son as part of Sonlight's HBL K. Great amount of information, while not being too much. Did he retain all of it or even most? Nope. But at this age, it's simply an introduction to American history. He could answer basic questions about the content though. And I learned some things!

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Scholastic book is FULL of wonderful facts about the Civil War. Written in a format that was easy to understand and read. It is for an older child as the words are bigger and the pages are full of text. But younger children may understand it as well if something read it to them. I really appreciated the way the story is written. One page is written from the South point of view how the people felt, how they acted, how they had to respond to the war, etc. and the other page was from the North point of view. Helping the reader to fully understand how even though it affected everyone it affected them the same but differently in different things. Even as an adult reading this this book helped clear up a few things I have been having trouble remembering when I study about the Civil War. It was to 'old' of a book for my special needs teen age sons and my 4 year old granddaughter but I will remember it when she gets old enough. This would be a great book for a child doing a book report and or just wanting to learn about History.

[Shannon McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I have said before for adult who do not remember much from history classes these books for children can be a great beginners guide to what you don’t know.

The book teaches you about what the Civil War was about, who was in it and when it took place.

I like that the book tells you about whether you would stayed in school if you were young. It gives a background racially what was going on and tells you about who was made famous or was better known because of the Civil War.

I think the book is excellent to use to gain information although personally I was more interested in the Revolutionary War then the Civil War. I know it is a big part of American history and I am glad I know more about it now.

[Josh Hellams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear Mrs.Zion,
This book talks about where you would live during the civil war and it also talked about what you would wear. It also gave a little insight on the civil war.
During the civil war you would not wear modern clothing like Old Navy, Hollister ,ect. but, you would wear clothing made by your mom and or wife +
(grand) daughter. During the civil war you could live in the north or the south. In the south you would be the Confederate.In the north you would be the Union.
The civil war was a war between the southern area of America and the northern area of America. The war was started because the south wanted slavery and the north did not want slavery.




From,
Josh

[IrenesBookReviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is written in the question and answer format. It is easy to understand and the illustrations remind me of chalk drawings. The book is great for students in 2nd through 4th grade. I liked how the author geared the questions to what a child might ask. I gave this book 4/5 stars. I thought it was simple enough to hold a younger persons interest yet the answers were detailed enough to keep an older child reading. I do think that some of the answers were not totally historically correct, that said, it still has plenty of helpful information. Like all history books, you might need to compare some of the facts listed against other books to get the whole truth.

[Children's Literature Project · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade Level Equivalent: 5.2

Summary: This book provides an easy-to-read summary of what young readers would have encountered if they lived during the Civil War. It depicts both sides of the confict, the North and South, and how tensions escalated until the war resulted.

Lesson Integration: This book can be used as a read-aloud selection to introduce the Civil War. It is easy to follow and the illustrations allow the reader to understand what the war was about and the type of life people led during this time. The teacher can follow the reading by asking any questions the students may still have about the Civil War, and these questions could be used as guides for following lessons.

[Angela Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a question and answer book about the Civil War. It discusses how the war was started and it breaks it down between how the North perceived the war and how the South perceived the war. Some of the major points include: home life, school, food, entertainment, news, and much more. Some of the people depicted in this book are Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Frederick Douglas, to name a few. This would be a great book to use for a research project to help get some questions that might be interesting to the reader.

[Maria Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interest Level: Ages 6 to 8
Reading Level: Ages 6 to up
Lexile Reading Level: 840L

If you lived at the time of the Civil War --Would you have seen a battle? --Did you continue to go to school? --Was it hard to get food? This book tells you what it was like to live at the time of the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Great way to create Historical awareness and to personalize History a little more.

[Duane · Rating 3 out of 5]

For beginner readers, this is a nice book to learn how people lived during the Civil War. Each page describes how the North/South dealt with everyday duties while the war was going on. Filled with nice illustrations, readers will enjoy the easily-understood writing style. A nice addition to anyone's collection.

[Catharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This answers questions for students in elementary grades about what life was like during the civil war. Most questions address the differences between life in the south and the north. The information is presented in simple language for the young audience, but it would be too much text for students younger than 2nd grade.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

We liked this less than other titles in this series - I think because of the comparison between life in the south vs. north for each of the categories. It was light on the harsh realities of slavery and battle and injuries/death so that is good if you have young kids but not so good for older kids ready to read a bit more of the truth.

[Climber · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was about the Civil War and the Civil War was a long time ago. I didn't know anything about it until I read this book. The most interesting thing I learned was those Northern people coming to Tara and tried to take it away.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in a question/answer format. Pictures are boring and not very engaging. However, it would be nice to use with the civil war unit for 5th grade. No nonfiction text features for students to find the information they want. Good information, however. AR - 5.7

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If You Lived At The Time of the Civil War by Kay Moore. New Read. A very interesting and entertaining book about what life was like if you lived during the Civil War. Geared toward young readers, I enjoyed it too.

[Shelly♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little book on living during Civil War times. Doesn't get too much into the battles, but what the people were going through and what life was like.

Recommended for: Elementary ages.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very good book for teachers to have in their classrooms. It provides good information in a way that will engage kids and adults alike.

[Maureen Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a well-written and beautifully illustrated look at the Civil War from both the Union and Confederate sides, and it does not shy away from the Black experience during the time period. Young readers will get a good, relatable introduction to the time period. The questions posed in the book are answered in a balanced fashion, with headings printed in the appropriate color for each side - blue for the Union, gray for the Confederacy - to provide a visual delineation for readers.

This would be a good resource for struggling readers to learn about the Civil War. It would be best used for individual book studies; use as a read-aloud book would require a document camera to show the illustrations. The book would be appropriate for a unit on the Civil War, or on nonfiction text features.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-done! Conveys a lot of info in reasonable 'chunks.' This sticks pretty closely to the war itself, saying only minimal about slaves and slavery.

p 14
The western part of Virginia felt strong ties to the North, broke away, and became the state of West Virginia.
I did not know that. (There's a large, easily understood, map of the United States at the time of the War.)

p 36
Food was harder to get its the war went on and on. ... Baking soda, which was used to make bread, was made from the ashes of corncobs.
Really!? I'd like to be able to do that with the kids.

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for children, but the printing quality was terrible (not the author's fault but still, it's not nice). The paper was dull and thin, not glossy. As for the content itself, it was easy to read, but lack of detail. There are illustrations but they didn't give an explanation for those illustrations.

[Melani Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not find this book to be as helpful as many in this series. As long as a child has a good understanding of the Civil War before reading it, I suppose it is fine. Just do not expect to learn much of anything about the war in this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice elementary level look at the civil war and what it would have been like to live during that time. Some comparison between north and south and how people's lives were affected.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great information from the north and the south

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

AR 5.7

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good, basic, background information on what life would have been like during America's Civil War. My only quibble is that the book lacks a bibliography and suggestions for further reading.

[Jessica Meetze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great easy book to learn about the Civil War. I love how it has a question then answers the question. This was great for homeschooling!

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author didn’t do a good enough job at explaining that the Southern soldiers were traitors to their country and wanted to continue to deny freedom to the enslaved people in the United States. They even condoned capturing free people and enslaving them. This was a white wash.

[Tracy Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a read-aloud with my fifth-grader and second-grader in our RoadTrip USA homeschool study.

Years later I read it to their siblings (then 5th and 3rd grade) in our study of Early American History.