A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832

Genre: Historical Fiction

Title: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832

Author: Joan W. Blos

Awards: Newbery Medal

Age Range: 9-12 Years old

Summary: The book is written in the form of a journal. The journal belongs to a young girl named Catherine Hall. She writes about her everyday life experiences of living on a farm with her father and little sister. Catherine is a sweet, smart girl who helps out her father a lot since her mother passed away. Although, one day Catherine's father, Charles, goes away on business and returns with the news that he has found a woman to marry. Catherine though at first shocked by the news begins to embrace her new step-mom whom she refers to as Mammann. Mammann ensures the house is clean and the children have good clothes. Also, when she discovers that Catherine has gotten rid of an old quilt she has her make a new one to make up for it. Catherine's best friend is Cassie Shipman who lives nearby and she visits quite often. They go to school together and have many fun adventures. However, she grew to be very ill with a fever and ends up dying a few days later. This was hard for those that knew Cassie. In the end, Catherine prepares to leave to go help Aunt Lucy because she was having a baby. Catherine's father and stepmother agreed to let her go help, which she is excited yet nervous about being far from home.

Evaluation: I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I was going to. Therefore, I would not use this book in my classroom. I thought the book was a little boring because the plot was very slow. Another reason why I would not use this book is that there are some slurs used when referring to slaves. I do not think students would enjoy this book. The book should be used with students in grades 4th through 6th grade. I would connect the book with Social Studies and English by having students pick a time from the past and write a journal as if they were from that era.

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