If You Lived in Colonial Times

Life in New England in colonial times was hard, a good growing year and people could eat well, a bad growing year and there was hunger. Harvest was an especially busy time, as everyone had to work all hours to get all of the food stored away. This book is about how the children of that time lived. Since everything revolved around the family in their house, this is about family life from the perspective of children. What they wore what they ate, the work they did during the day, what they did for fun, what their schools were like, and how they behaved on Sunday. There were many laws, some of which were heavily enforced and others that were largely ignored. The tithing-man would rap you if you misbehaved in church or tickle your face if you fell asleep during the service. Nearly everything that was used by the people was grown and made by them, so the explanations of how they made their goods was quite interesting. The list of standard jobs found in every village, such as the miller, blacksmith, barber, tailor and the cooper describes what professions were most valued at that time. This is an excellent book about the life of a child in New England. While their lives are described as being difficult, they were not without joy, something that is also mentioned in detail.

Of all the history on daily life, no book offers more practical insight into the daily lives of Colonists. The Bible says, "Out of the mouths of babes..." Perhaps the same is true "For the eyes/ears of babes..." Truly excellent. In all my searching through so many standard old history books, I could not find answers to the questions this book resolved.Best of all, our kids love it!

A really fun, well orgainized book. My 6 and 9 year olds loved it and so did I (Mom). We have been back to it many times, looking at particular sections. I am now ordering other titles in the series.

I highly recommend this book. My children, 6 and 4 years old, could easily put themselves into the very clearly described settings. They got a real feel for what life was like in colonial days. It was fun to read - made for GREAT family time!

It was pretty cool. it tells about how two men go to town, with one horse. It is really funny.