The worlds of the American Girls: what was life like for girls at seven periods of American history? The books are both entertaining and educational. They're full of illustrations, excerpts from primary sources and commentary about ordinary life in colonial America (1774), the Southwest frontier (1824), pioneer-era Minnesota (1854), the Civil War (1864), big-city America (1904), the Great Depression (1934) and the home front during World War Two (1944).
(2003) Kaya is a young girl of the Nez Perce, and this book will introduce young people to the life of a child in her time and to Native American customs, history, and traditions. Includes mention of a smallpox epidemic, which might trigger questions and good discussion about the sad parts of history.
(1999) The history of colonial America, from the perspective of a young girl in that period, is full of attractive images and interesting text. From the kind of chores that young girls did, to the Revolutionary War, to slave laws and the role of women, this is an excellent starting point to introduce history to a young person.
(1999) Josefina, a Mexican girl growing up in New Mexico, witnesses the western expansion of America. This book will introduce a young person to daily life of that period, and should be attractive as it takes the perspective of what life was like for a person of about the same age.
(1999) I would have adored this as a young girls, as it resonates with the experience of my own ancestors, Norwegians living close to the Minnesota border. In this volume, the ordinary life of a young immigrant is compared and contrasted to the life of a native American young girl in the same area, making clear the connections between the two worlds that came together in that era.
(1999) Addy's world is one of contrast and change: she's an African American girl at the time of the Civil War, so this book covers the experience of slavery and the transition to freedom, as well as the different experiences in the North and South, all from the perspective of a girl about the age of the intended reader. An interesting book that may generate a lot of questions and require some sensitive adult answers!
(1999) Victorian America is the subject of this book, and the movement from the Victorian into the modern world. It's all seen through the eyes of a young girl's daily life.
(2002) Kit's an optimistic girls living through the Great Depression -- this book documents that period, and the Roaring Twenties before that time, but without being itself depressing. That may be a flaw to some. The ending of the Depression by the onset of World War II is barely mentioned -- that's left, I guess, to the
Molly's World volume.
(1999) Molly's world includes life on the home front during World War II, with some focus on women's contributions including the Women's Army Corps. Documenting mostly what life was like for an ordinary girl at home, this should give a young girl today a flavor of what life was like for the Mollies of the 1940s.
