ULTIMATE FIELD TRIP 4

This author took children on previous field trips to Adventures in the Amazonian Rain Forest (1995) and Wading into Marine Biology (1999). Here, she takes a dozen children to spend a week at the Kings Landing Historical Settlement in Prince William, Canada. Leaving Walkman and sneakers behind, the children dress in period costumes, slop the hogs, go to a one-room school and learn about everyday chores and living conditions in the 19th century. The author and photographer document the Ultimate Field Trip with photos of smiling children writing with quill pens, churning butter, setting type in the print shop, and chopping wood. They are costumed in everything from pantaloons and corsets to flowered bonnets. Color photographs also include puzzle boxes, which display an unusual object from the past. The reader is invited to guess the purpose of the object. Some are easy—for example: an iron, skate blades, or an old hat box; others, like the hearse with winter snow runners, will mystify. The answers are given in upside-down captions below each object. Since houses in the restoration span the time from 1830 to 1870, the young viewer may have difficulty sorting out the exact time period, but there are plenty flavors of times past. Readers will enjoy the lively dialogue as the children discuss what they liked and didn't like about “living” like long ago. The author concludes with a brief glossary of unfamiliar terms, suggested further reading, and the Web site of the Kings Landing Historical Settlement. (Nonfiction. 9-12)