The Time Traveler Book of New France

Agnes C. Farrell is an elementary-school teacher in Richmond, British
Columbia.

This illustrated book offers insight into life in New France in the
early eighteenth century. Detailed pictures show how people lived along
the banks of the St. Lawrence. A double-page illustration on each topic
shows life in a seigneury, a tenant farmer’s home and farm, a Huron
village, and a fort. Instead of long paragraphs of text, which children
might find difficult to read, each illustration is explained with labels
or short sentences in boxes beside important visual details.

The book also includes sections on the Church, sports and leisure
activities, the geography of the region, and the contribution of women,
and it contains a concise history of New France up to the Treaty of
Paris in 1763, when it became part of the British Empire.

For elementary-school students studying this period in Canadian
history, this book will improve their understanding of life in New
France. The illustrations will teach them the vocabulary and will help
them remember details of the way people lived. Children will be able to
compare and contrast the lives of the seigneurs, the tenants, and the
Indians, which could lead to many writing activities. The pictures will
also make excellent guides for students who wish to make models of the
buildings.

Older students and even adults will find this book interesting as a
quick reference to life in New France. While it romanticizes the era,
and has only a sentence or two about the hardships and political
problems, it offers illustrated information which clearly defines many
terms that, although familiar, are not always fully understood. A
valuable reference book for classrooms at any level studying early
Canadian history.