If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: Great kids book with nice illustrations.
Review: All of the "If you Lived at the Time of..." books are great for kids, and also a nice, quick read for adults! What I like about them is their layout, which is easy for readers to follow. Each page begins with a question, "Would you have seen a battle in the South?" for example. Nicely drawn illustrations accompany each answer. The book itself is small and lightweight enough to be handled easily by kids. Issues between the North and South are explained simply and, I believe, fairly.

Rating:
Summary: Shameful Bigotry
Review: I generally have a high regard for Scholastic publications, but I am amazed that such narrow-minded bigotry and prejudice actually made it through to publication. I am so glad I previewed this book before sharing it with my children. I would no sooner read this to them than I would read them a book about "nice little Pilgrims and mean old Indians."

Current historians generally have a more enlightened interpretation of South's position in the Civil War, but Moore chooses to perpetuate the old stereotype of the evil slave owners versus the knights in shining armor of the north. Any cursory reading of the facts will tell you that this is wrong.

Though slavery was, no doubt, an issue in the war, it was not foremost, initially, and it was highlighted by the federal administration only when it became politically and strategically advantageous to highlight it. Any current reading of a Lincoln biography will tell you why he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and why he waited so long to do it.

Comments such as, "[During the war] Southern women and children had to provide for themselves, something they were not used to doing," are littered throughout the pages of this book. Besides being grossly insulting, they are blatant misrepresentations of history, and of truth.

Most Southerners, in fact, did NOT own slaves. Many were very much against slavery. And yet on every page devoted to "explaining" the Southern perspective, the story of the South is told exclusively through their position as a slave-owning population. Southerners are portrayed as uneducated hillbillies. Even the pictures perpetuate this....illustrations of northern children look like modern day preppies; the white southern children are illustrated as ragged and dirty.

Moore does mention at the end that, "The South was treated like a hated enemy." Apparently, in some corners, they still are.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book for Young Readers
Review: I highly recommend this book for young readers who are first learning about the Civil War, and for parents/adults who want to refresh their knowledge about the Civil War. It uses an easy-to-follow Question/Answer approach. It explains which states seceded, who fought for the northern and southern armies, how the war affected the daily lives of northerners and southerners, who were the famous people from the north, and who were the famous people from the south. I really like the approach of the entire "If You" Series by Scholastic for introducing history to young readers. I highly recommend it for classrooms, home schooling, or pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book for Young Readers
Review: IT is a really cool book. It is pretty interesting book. It explains some pretty cool stuff.