Mary Cobb

Bright, fresh, with truly doable projects. My favorite of the 'life in olden-times' books I've been reading lately. What I find amazing is that the biggest difference between the lives described here and the childhood of Laura Ingalls is not due to the century-plus between them, but due to the fact that she lived on the frontier and this was more focused on urban life. I especially enjoyed the charm of the illustrations - a little girl falls asleep over her sampler, friendly animals 'hold' the banners that display the instructions for each project, Adam in Eden wears a hat. A delight for all who interested in early history of the US and for beginning crafters.… (mais)

This would be a great book that explains frontier life in a hands-on way via quilt patterns and projects based on them. But where are the native Americans? When the pioneers traveled westward, it seemed the land was basically empty, except for the following paragraph: "But far and away the most important job the father had was to protect his family. The pioneers had followed wild game and Indian trails as they went west, and the pioneer father kept a careful watch for Indians and animals that might do his family harm." (p. 41)… (mais)