If You Lived In Colonial Times

by Ann McGovern

A different time...a different place...What if you were there?

If you lived in colonial times

- What kind of clothes would you wear? - Would you go to school? - What would happen if you didn't behave? This book tells you what it was like to live in the New England colonies during the years 1565 to 1776.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Picture Books, School, American

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Ann McGovern Scheiner (née Weinberger) was an American writer of more than 55 children's books, selling over 30 million copies. She may be best known for her adaptation of Stone Soup, as well as Too Much Noise, historical and travel non-fiction, and biographies of figures like Harriet Tubman and Deborah Sampson Gannett and Eugenie Clark.

Reviews

[Cindy aka "The Book Fairy" · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating illustrations and text make this an excellent educational book.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was excellent! I read this to my son (8 yrs old / 3rd grade), Camden as extra reading because we are studying early American history. I found it to be a wonderful addition to our study! I learned so much myself. This book does a wonderful job covering all aspects of early colonial life in a clear, east to read and understand way! My son gave it five stars! He loved it so much that when we finished it, he said he wanted to read it again!

[Kate Foran · Rating 2 out of 5]

A better name for this book would be “If you were a white Puritan colonist of moderate means in Colonial Times”— as that is all that is covered.

The telling is interesting and accessible to kids. The facts and quotes are very memorable. It’s just narrow.

There’s no acknowledgement of free or enslaved Africans who lived in the New England colonies at this time. There is almost no acknowledgement of social stratification—The book discusses laws being different for the poor, but then describes colonial lifestyle and homes as the same for all. At one point the book states, “No one would be hungry,” in winter due to food preservation. I have my doubts. Native Americans are mentioned 2-3 times (taught colonists to grow corn, knew how to use log bridges).

So, with those limitations in mind—I still think this book is worth a read or even study. I would just strongly advise against presenting it to students as a full “colonial times” story. It badly needs supplementation.

[Sarah Fitzsimmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

If You Lived In Colonial Times is such an interesting book that really has a lot of fun information. This book talks about pretty much everything that you would do if you lived in Colonial times. From eating, dressing, going to school, medicine, church, farming, making clothes, different jobs, etc...It talks about the Revolutionary War as well.
I really do love this book. Its a little long, but I think it has a ton of information that would be good for people to know about. It has cool illustrations and make what your learning about, come alive.
I would most definitely have this book in my classroom. The information in this book is so good and I know that my future students would benefit from it greatly.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: When were Colonial times? Colonial times were a long time ago.

Premise/plot: Interested in reading about what the New England states were like during the years 1620-1730? This early reader is for you. It is written almost exclusively in question and answer format. Sometimes questions are answered on one page, sometimes questions are answered on two pages. Whether the answer is short or long, the answer tends to be interesting and engaging.

My thoughts: This was one of the first nonfiction books I remember reading as a kid. I remember being really fascinated by history even from a young age. I was so pleased to find this one again at a local charity book shop! I would definitely recommend this one!

[Anne White]

This was on our free-reading shelf during elementary school. Being Canadian children, we had little idea of what "Colonial Times" might be, but figured it must be something like "Pioneer Days."

The illustrations were memorable, anyway.

[Lara Lleverino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julia thought this books taught her a lot about colonial times. She will never forget that children in colonial days drank beer!

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful information for teaching my history class at our co-op.

[Angela Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, students will learn about how people lived, dressed, and acted during the colonial times. The book listed several different trades that people during that time had to do to survive. People made their own clothes and furniture too. Times were difficult because the people were new to the land and the things that were not imported had to be made or grown. This book asks numerous questions and it gives the answer to the questions. This would be a good book to read to the students, and then have them write a question about something that they are interested in learning about that happened in the colonial times. This is a great book with some historical background. Interest level is 2nd - 5th grade.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading the book If You Lived In Colonial Times by Ann McGovern like if you lived in one of the New England colonies during the years between 1565 and 1776. this book is in a great question and answer format it helps you to understand what more specific aspects of these times were and how they lived thought all the hard ships of creating a town/home that was safe and had a bounty of resources necessary to live during the colonial times. I enjoyed reading this book and learning more about how many troubles these people had to go through just to go through there everyday life.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this in a used bookstore for a quarter. Good overview of Colonial times, covering 1630-1730 in the New England colonies (PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME). The book is structured in Q&A style, with a question and answers covering 1 to 3 pages, along with color illustrations. It covers everything from clothes and food, to school and church, and travel and communication.
I did learn a few things reading through, and though originally written in 1964, I think this is still a good book for modern kids (assuming you don't mind the debated "Columbus discovered America" part).
I'm guessing that this is part of a series, and I might track down some of the other books out of curiosity.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

So it's the first snow fall of the winter season . . .10"s or so, lost power for 2 days.

This book was the perfect thing to read to my boys during our night of no electricity, warming by the fireplace and reading by candle light.

I loved the question and answer format and thought the book could have gone on for a bit longer.

My son was cracking up over some of the laws (kind of a scary funny) and wanted to know who the heck created them and why?! And I think he asked me WHAT?! several times throughout.

Perfect book for the situation we were in . . . .

[HeavyReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another book that came to me via school book orders. I loved its question and answer format, and read it repeatedly.

I still remember that in the list of instructions for kids was this gem "stuff not your mouth to fill your cheeks," or something along those lines. There was a lot of things kids (and adults!) were not supposed to do.

And how creepy is that cover picture of modern kids looking into that old school mirror and seeing their colonial times counterparts?

[Greg Lico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in the third grade, we had a unit in social studies on Colonial America. We had this book as our textbook to help learn about how colonial people lived. The copy I was given was very old but I read it cover to cover, and re read it. Something at that time I never did.

This book changed my life. It introduced me to the subject of history and since then, I have devoted my life to learning about the people's and civilizations of the past. It has fascinated me to no end.

[Amanda Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great piece of literature to use around 2nd to 4th grade. It goes in to talking about the pilgrims and the first snow. It's set up in an awesome question answer format that keeps the students engaged. Would be great for an integrated lesson plan around thanksgiving for reading, writing and social studies.

[Autumn T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a lot of interesting information about the colonial times that America went through. In this book you could see beautiful illustrations of what life was like in the 16th through 18th centuries.

I though book was amazing and fun to read. I also thought this book was great for 4th through 5th graders.

[Wendee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for Ethan on our trip to Plymouth, Mass. He really enjoyed reading it and was very interested in how kids lived, in those days. We even had a great conversation on some of the "strange" things they could not do on Sunday. =o)

[Bailey]

This is a great and informative book about colonial times, though it is very lengthy. I took excerpts from it to read to my class during my PTLS. It has lots of interesting information about the thirteen colonies and it has great illustrations.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Q & A type book. A question is posed ad a topic. Then it is answered along wit hat vivid illustration. It gets children interesting in learning about the colonial ere because it is written from a child's poinf of view during the colonial era.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mom, I bet you didn't know that back in Colonial times, if a wife talked back to her husband....she got dunked!" Bwwahahahahahaha..... I really, really wish I knew what she was picturing! Fun facts and tid-bits about colonial life!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grabbed this on a trip to Plimoth Plantation and my son asked for it as a bedtime story. Definitely something that will be more engaging for him in a few years, but as a history teacher and buff, I love it.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to love reading this book in grade school-I still can't believe they would beat you over the head with a wooden stick if you fell asleep in church...

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and informative. It shows you how the Colonists dressed, what they did around the house, the games they played, what the schools where like, which kids went to which schools, and much more.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems a bit dated and the drawings a bit stereotypical to me. I believe it is part of a series of If You Lived... books. Decent but could definitely have been done better.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids loved this book and begged me to read the whole book in one sitting. We learned what colonial kids ate, read, did and many more things.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A kid friendly text with great illustrations. It tells about life in the New England colonies in 1565 - 1776. A good resource for students to know how kids lived.

[Ashlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is fantastic for all children.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun to read with my kids and compare life now to life back then.

[Daniel Threlfall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to my daughters, aged 2 (almost 3) and 4. They loved it, and so did I. It was especially interesting to me after reading several books on early America.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful for teachers.