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Gathering of Days, A

Publication Information

Author: Blos, Joan W.

Illustrator:

Title: Gathering of Days, A

Date: 1979

Publisher: Macmillian

City: New York

ISBN, paperback:

ISBN, hardback: 0-689-71419-X

Recommended audience:

ABE/ABLE: Yes

ESOL:

Family: Yes

Young Adult: Yes

Picture:

General Information:

Book Type(s): historical fiction, diaries and journals

GED Descriptor(s): social studies

Summary:

This book, subtitled A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32, is a fictitious diary kept by a fourteen-year-old girl during the last few years she spent on her family's farm. During these months Catherine's father remarried, her closest friend died of fever, and she helped a runaway slave.

Teaching Ideas:

Although the book reads like an accurate portrayal of life in rural New England in the 1830's, because of the adolescent voice teachers may want to carefully pair the book with the right student or use excerpts of it with a group. Students might enjoy rewriting some of the journal entries from the point of view of one of the adults. The section on Nat Turner or the part on moving to Ohio may be excerpted and read as part of a unit on slavery or Ohio history. It may be used with Paterson's Lyddie.

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword

Geography > locations > U.S. states/regions > New England

History > time period > 19th Century

History > region > U.S. history > well-known people > Turner, Nat

History > region > U.S. history > Ohio

Communities > rural > rural life > farms

Emotions-Personal Issues > emotions > death

History > topic > slavery