Synopsis
Few house are grander than those of the Victorian era. Take a tour of these remarkable buildings by flipping through the pages of The Victorian Home. The text guides children through every room while explaining the Victorian values and tastes behind its design. See the magnificent parlor, the servants' rooms, and even the scandalously secretive water closet! Throughout the text is beautifully illustrated with photographs and illustrations of the homes and their lavishly decorated rooms and furniture.
School Library Journal
Gr 3-5Useful for homework assignments on 18th- and 19th-century American life, these titles will also appeal to browsers. The typeface is easy to read and the attractive pictures supplement the text. General Store describes the appearance, contents, workings, and role of these businesses in the community. The full-color photos depict contemporary people performing tasks in re-created general stores on historical sites, e.g., Old Sturbridge Village. The text is full of fascinating details, such as the fact that people often took things home in barrels or cloth sacks because paper bags and cardboard boxes had not yet been invented. With a combination of full-color photos and illustrations, The Victorian Home provides information about these dwellings, examining exteriors, rooms, and furnishings. Readers learn that it was rude for a seated man to offer an entering female his chair, because the seat might be warm. Hence, parlors were crammed with chairs so that there would always be a "fresh" seat. These titles don't go into great depth, but they do give a broad overview of early American life interspersed with interesting facts.Shauna Siebers, Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Fredericksburg, VA