Fort Life

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

Bobbie Kalman has added another four books to her Historic Communities
series. As always, the author presents interesting facts in short
paragraphs and includes excellent illustrations, a glossary, and an
index.

A Child’s Day and A One-Room School graphically portray the lives of
the children of early settlers. Both include details of the chores
children were expected to do at home and at school. Today’s children
will be amazed to find how hard the settlers had to work; however, the
books also show they had fun playing games (often with homemade toys)
and that pranksters at school were severely punished. (Comparing the
methods of punishment of yesterday and today would provide for lively
classroom discussions.)

Fort Life depicts the lives of soldiers and their families in the many
forts that dotted North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. It
explains why forts were necessary at the time, while downplaying the
battles that may have been fought at some of the forts.

Settler Sayings illustrates how much of the past is represented in our
everyday speech. The origins of such sayings as “cut and dried,”
“apple pie order,” “pot luck,” and “lock, stock and barrel”
(as well as many other expressions we use regularly) are clearly
explained.

Although some information presented in these books has been covered in
other volumes in this series, the colorful photographs, interesting
illustrations, and easy-to-read text make them a useful addition to any
elementary-school library. Highly recommended.