South Carolina

Children's Literature

Over the two centuries of the colonial period, South Carolina came to be one of the most aristocratic of the original thirteen colonies. Using the natural resources available to them, European settlers in South Carolina grew rice and indigo. These crops were labor intensive and South Carolina soon had a large population of African slaves. There was a high morbidity rate among the slaves because of the hard conditions that existed on colonial South Carolina's plantations. Yet, South Carolina landowners became some of the wealthiest residents in colonial America. The stories of South Carolina's slaves, native population, colonists, backwoodsmen, pirates, patriots, and Tories are all touched upon in Richard Worth's volume in the "Life in the Thirteen Colonies" series. This is a well-researched and creditably written book. The only criticism of this, and other books by Worth in this series is his somewhat dry style. Other writers in this series make better use of human-interest stories. However, students will find South Carolina to be a reasonable place to start their education on this subject. 2004, Children's Press, Ages 10 to 14.
—Greg M. Romaneck

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-This compact volume relates general information about pre- and post-Revolutionary War-era South Carolina in brisk, age-appropriate prose, but inexplicably overlooks numerous details and uses imprecise, sometimes misleading language. The author repeatedly refers to South Carolina's "backcountry," but only vaguely describes this unincorporated zone outside of Charles Town, leaving readers to wonder just where it began and ended. The description of "Southern Houses" makes no distinction between the homes constructed in Charleston and those built inland. The book's only reference to favored son and Revolutionary War icon Francis Marion appears in a caption, and the text makes mention of landmarks like "the Liberty Tree"-ostensibly "a symbol of freedom throughout the colonies"-but says nothing about where it was or how it came to be regarded thus. The numerous photos and period reproductions are satisfactory, but the very first one is "a drawing from Columbus's time" that shows him exploring the New World. His ship's sail sports a black cross, which directly contradicts the statement, "The ships bore a blood-red cross on their sails. This was the symbol of Spain." An index, local recipe, and craft project follow the text. This title is a supplemental purchase at best.-Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.