Customer Reviews

American Family of the Pilgrim Period Paper Dolls (Dover Paper Dolls)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My 10-year-old daughter needed to create a 3-D scene for a Social Studies Fair project, so she cut out these dolls and glued on the costumes she thought would be best suited for the subject (the Salem Witch Trials). Then she arranged them on a wooden floor with a witness stand and judge's table. To give them stiffness and assure that they would stand up, she glued craft sticks to the backs. These are wonderfully authentic period dolls and we couldn't have been more pleased. She place second in the U. S. History category in her age division.

All of Tom Tierney's work is excellent, and these are no exception. The illustrations are colourful, historically accurate, and beautifully done. I use these in my history classes for illustration.

The pictures of the dolls in my book were faded and faint in color. There is poor definition in their faces. A very poor copy that should have never made it to the retail market. The costumes are very good but the printing is a disaster.

These are beautifully rendered paperdolls of an European ethnic American settler family from the 1600s, the period of the Plymouth colony. The characters are fictitious. There is no doubt that these were created with research and love.

They are printed on cardstock which is good; but, they are not punch-out paperdolls. This becomes especially a problem when you consider that most of the costumes require that you cut out an enclosed oval for the face. I don't know anyone who has that kind of skill and won't end up ruining the beauty of the object.

Another complaint I could make is that it would be better that it also include an Indian family. Either that, or the title should be "American Pilgrim Family", instead of "American family of the Pilgrim Period", that would clarify that what is meant is an American family of the Pilgrim type instead fo typical American family of the Pilgrim period (which stasticially speaking would have been Indian).

I could also quibble about calling them "Pilgrims." Better would be "Early Settlers," or if religion is to be emphasized in this group of people then call them "Separatists." I'd have no complaint about making Separatist paperdolls as long as they were titled such, but the generalization that to be American at this point is to have arrived on the Mayflower and to have arrive on the Mayflower is to be a Separatist is simply wrong. Both generalizations are wrong.

The description of the plates is appreciated. I suggest this book be kept as a pictorial reference and not used as paper dolls.

I hope they revise this to make it more practical and more accurate.