Boston Tea Party [Hardcover]

Pamela Duncan Edwards (Author), Henry Cole (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: P and up

What would lead someone to go out in the middle of the night and throw shiploads of tea into a harbor? The Boston Tea Party is a familiar tale, but the story leading up to it goes beyond the drama of that one night. Pamela Duncan Edwards' unique take on this event gets to the root of the story as this prelude to the Revolutionary War unfolds. Enhanced by English and colonial mice characters, Henry Cole's rich and mood-evoking illustrations bring the story to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The creators of Livingstone Mouse and Warthogs in the Kitchen travel back to 1773, when King George III's export tax on tea precipitated the Boston Tea Party. Ably targeting her audience, Edwards pares down the historical data. The narrative unspools in a singsong imitation of "The House That Jack Built," which plays up the irony of the king's tax on tea from India being sold to the colonies. The opening spread shows women in India picking tea leaves, followed soon after by a caricature of the king at teatime. Later, as outraged colonists read a notice of the new tax, the text incorporates the events thus far: "These are the colonists who cried, `No!' to the king on his English throne who declared, `Tax the tea!' that was made from the leaves that grew on a bush in a far-off land and became part of the Boston Tea Party." At the bottom of each spread, a bevy of chatty mice comment on the goings-on, offering supplementary information ("We're not going to take it! `No taxation without representation!' ") as well as light asides ("Make sure you don't dump any cheese by mistake!"). Rendered in acrylic paints and colored pencils, Cole's lifelike paintings effectively evoke the period setting on both sides of the Atlantic. This early history lesson goes down easily, and will likely lead readers to find out more about this pivotal event in the formation of America. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3-This picture book opens in a far-off, long-ago land where sari-draped women pick tea leaves and ends with a modern-day July 4th celebration, complete with fireworks. In between, the history of the Boston Tea Party unfolds in cumulative, clumsy prose with cartoon Colonial mice explaining in asides, "Dressing up as Mohawks will fool the British," and reminding each other not to "dump any cheese by mistake." However, the double-page acrylic-and-colored-pencil illustrations help compensate for the awkwardness of the telling. George III is portrayed in all his removed-from-it-all pomposity while patriots are shown as down-to-business and capable. (British mice are appropriately attired in red coats.) A pictorial time line summarizes the whole shebang-from the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 to the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Steven Kroll's The Boston Tea Party (Holiday, 1998) is a finely illustrated alternative for slightly older kids. Despite mixed results, Edwards's title may have value as an introduction to this important historical event.
Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (June 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399233571
• ISBN-13: 978-0399233579
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #696,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pamela Duncan Edwards grew up in the Wirral, but has spent most of her adult life in the USA. She worked as a children's librarian before becoming a writer and is now the bestselling author of over 30 children's books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to Read And Educational!!, January 30, 2007

By 

Angie "Catholic homeschooling mom of 5" (Peoria USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boston Tea Party (Hardcover)

I try to read a history book each evening to my kids and they enjoyed this one very much. The history was concise and patriotic in nature. There is also a nice timeline to read at the end. Every page I read, the kids would laugh about the mice's comments (at the bottom of each page) and the connected lines of the story. Each page tied to the former page making almost a song throughout the book. It was brief enough to interest my 3 year-old, but interesting enough for my 6, 8, and 9 year-old. The toddler just laughed along with the older siblings, so we all had a good time reading it together. I recommend this book highly. This really brought history alive for them!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The chain of events that led to the Boston Tea Party, October 19, 2002

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Boston Tea Party (Hardcover)

School children hear about the Boston Tea Party when they begin studying American history, but why colonists would dress up as Indians and throw shiploads of tea into a harbor in the middle of the night might seen a rather strange thing to do. Pamela Duncan Edwards provides a different take on the familiar tale with the aid of some knowledgeable mice that comments on the story on the bottom of each two-page spread (children will not be the only ones who are immediately reminded of the singing mice from the movie "Babe"). The story is related quite simply, using text that is clearly modeled the old nursery rhyme "The House that Jack Built" to build from the tea grown in a far off land that eventually end up in Boston harbor. While the text deals with the narrative chain of events, the aforementioned mice provided most of the historical detail (e.g., smuggling in cheaper tea from Holland) although some of their number are rather preoccupied with the idea of tea and the fear of cats.

The back of the book includes a time-line from the end of the French and Indian war in 1763 to the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution in 1783, putting the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773 in more of a historical context. More important than the amount of information that Edwards works creatively into the story is the emphasis on the causality of these events. Understanding that history is not merely a list of chronological events but rather events that have causes and consequences is probably more important than any aspect of the Boston Tea Party.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific!, February 17, 2006

By 

Lynn Grassell "Mother of and Angel" (Pinedale, Wyoming) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boston Tea Party (Hardcover)

My son used this book for a source in a fifth grade social studies project. Allthought the book is simply written, it tells the story of the Boston Tea Party in a great easy to understand way. The illustrations were perfect to help make the three dimensional part of the project!