A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 by Joan W. Blos
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm not sure how I missed this during my "Little House" years but I would have enjoyed this diary.
It's a good book, if a bit dull. The 'author' is a 14 year old New Hampshire farm girl and it touches briefly on farm life, slavery, school, family life, factory workers and other themes of the day but it fails to go in depth in any. I would have enjoyed the book more had there been a focus on any of these topics.
I was surprised to see a recipe from my collection in the book. I originally found it in a cookbook from the 1850s so it was definitely appropriate to the story - just a surprise to see it in print again!
For a tween that enjoys autobiographical accounts of life in other times, this would be a good book. It's easy to read and brings history more to life. For instance, she might know that children worked in dangerous conditions in factories but to 'know' someone that was being sent to do the job to help support her family helps them see how it would feel.
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