Book of the American Colonies

Brown Paper School: US Kids History

by Howard Egger-Bovet, Marlene Smith-Baranzini, T. Taylor Bruce (Illustrator)

An exploration of the motivations, behavior, and activities of the early European settlers of North America, their impact on the native peoples, and the formation of thirteen thriving colonies focuses on the experiences of young people of the era.

Genres: History

95 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1996

Reviews

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was outstanding! It's a great way to introduce history to kids. I'd recommend it for grades 2 and up, probably... Several parts of the colonial period are explained using a story about a person from that time. Each story describes the culture and briefly alludes to the political issues that shaped daily life. These vingettes are powerfully written and catch the readers' (me and my 7 year old, interest. In this way, clutural conflicts and changes, economic struggles and motivations, religious difference, geographical connections and national interests are explained in a way that people can understand. The historical stories are fleshed out with recipes, games and crafts from the period which have been adapted for a child of today to replicate. There are two maps in the book, not too many, just enough. One map shows the early explorers' routes and the other shows the colonies and their dates of formation. These are all the geographic reference required to ground the information and they are not so detailed as to be overwhelming to someone new to map reading.

The stories are so vivid that they have good staying power. My daughter remembered Walter Raleigh's imprisonment in the tower by King James and his ultimate demise for disobeying his king and fighting the Spanish. She also reminded me of Henry Hudson's ignominious end when his crew mutinied and left him, his son and a few other passengers in a small boat set out to see amidst icebergs and fog, never to be heard of again. All pretty dramatic stuff that went a long way to explaining the problems of exploration and the challenges of leadership. This is probably the best history book I've seen on this period.

The author gives a bit of time to explaining indentured servants and how African slaves were brought to the colonies and sold off. By necessity (I think) the R rated nature of slavery was left pretty much untouched. The introduction was enough, however, to evoke sympathy and concern from my 7 year old.

OH! And the pictures are clear and large which gives a visual person something to focus on while hearing the stories.

I highly recommend this book and will look to the Brown Paper School USKids History series for more in the future.

[Marjinel]

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