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FROM RAGS TO RICHES

Name: FROM RAGS TO RICHES
Author: Leslie Sills
ISBN: 0-8234-1708-5

A HISTORY OF GIRLS’ CLOTHING IN AMERICA

by Leslie Sills ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2005

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The history of what people wear is never simple, hemmed about with culture, nurture, mores and occasionally cockamamie ideas. Sills strives to address all of these issues in a busy format, but doesn’t always hit the mark. Her chapters are only a few pages in length and her pictures—most of them photographs—are well chosen. However, the text is printed on papers that reflect many kinds of printed cloth, visually interesting but hard to read. Her subject is American girls’ clothing and the confining aspects of girls’ clothes—from swaddling and stays to hoopskirts to bustles—is highlighted in the 12 chapter headings. She’s so breezy, though, that sometimes information isn’t complete—like why bobbed hair was such an innovation (freeing girls from caring for very long locks) or incorrect (the derivation she gives for “nylon, for instance). Young female readers will be delighted with the photos of Lucia, who designed her own dress, and astounded at how late the idea of females wearing pants came along. (glossary, index, bibliography, Webography, author’s note, lists of museums and organizations) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: May 31, 2005

ISBN: 0-8234-1708-5

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY

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CHILDREN OF THE GOLD RUSH

by Claire Rudolf Murphy & Jane G. Haigh ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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This excellent, well-researched book offers a rare peek into a fascinating culture, history, and people, in portraits of eight intrepid children and their families during the Alaskan/Yukon Territory gold rush. Murphy and Haigh give voices to children who tell of dangerous journeys to Alaskan mining camps, the brutal, cold winters, building small towns in rough terrain, and the disintegration of many families due to gold fever. The children adapted to a whole new way of life, prospected, entertained miners, and felt the effects of sudden fortune or bleak poverty. Fascinating sidebars address other children of the gold rush or other facets of that life, from schooling and the use of sled dogs, to panning for gold. Although the hardships are never glossed over, the design of the book has an antique charm, with photographs, ticket stubs, old handbills, maps, and journal excerpts. (glossary, further reading) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 1-57098-257-0

Page Count: 79

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY

- BOOK REVIEW
MARTIN AND BOBBY
by Claire Rudolf Murphy

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MY COUNTRY, ’TIS OF THEE
by Claire Rudolf Murphy ; illustrated by Bryan Collier

- BOOK REVIEW
MARCHING WITH AUNT SUSAN
by Claire Rudolf Murphy & illustrated by Stacey Schuett

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EVERGLADES

BUFFALO TIGER AND THE RIVER OF GRASS

by Peter Lourie & photographed by Peter Lourie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1994

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Exploring the everglades, the author describes landforms and wildlife and recalls the past history of the enormous slow-moving swamp that runs hundreds of miles from Florida's Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico. While still home to exotic wildlife, pollution and overdevelopment are threatening this unique biome. Lourie interweaves ecology, history, and a current true-life adventure. Buffalo Tiger, the guide for this journey, is a former chief of the Miccosukee Indians, who have farmed and fished the swamp since the 1820s when they were driven out of Northern Florida. Buffalo Tiger no longer poles the shallow swamp in a cypress dugout or lives in a thatched-roof, open-air chi-kee, but he does try to keep the legends and traditions alive for young Miccosukees who travel by air boat and live in modern houses in Miami. The author provides both contemporary color photos and black and white photos from the 1920s. While less compelling than the author's Yukon River: Adventure to the Gold Fields of the Klondike (1992), this will be appreciated by nature enthusiasts. (Nonfiction. 10-12)