Customer Reviews

Diary of an Early American Boy

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I read this book while visiting my mother in her Connecticut country home. It was the perfect place to read it as I suddenly made sense of the street names like Old Mill Road and Stoneboat Road. Eric Sloane paints an intoxicating portrait of a boy's coming of age and falling in love with the girl next door (even if next door was over the meadow and through the woods) in the earliest years of the 19th century. Life was a focus on survival, when your days were spent working your land for all the fruits that it bears to sustain you and your family. Close bonds form with neighbors and community is not only important, but a way of life. Aside from being a true (if admittedly embellished) story, it is an intense study of life at that time. How we made and used our tools; the many properties and uses of wood; how the farmer's almanac was an indispensible item in every household. You learn great little triva facts in every chapter, such as... Did you know every house was allowed only ten panes of window glass... if they had more, they would have to pay a stiff tax on each pane.

The book opens with our young protagonist lying in bed, staring out through four brand new panes of glass that his parents got him for his birthday, watching the snow fall. He is as happy as can be for having these simple panes of glass. Nintendo pales in comparison.

Read it! It's short and well-paced. The boy's slowly evolving love story with the neighbor's summer guest is an involving, if underplayed, spine.

This is an excellent book for kids and adults. The book is fully illustrated with drawings that detail how things were built and how they worked. They capture kid's attention better than "Where's Waldo?", but unlike that meaningless book, there's a lot to be learned from this little gem! Lance Greenlee

While rumaging through an old house, Eric Sloane came across the diary of 15 year old Noah Blake. Written in 1805, the diary has short entries about Noah's life on a farm. Sloane uses these brief notations as a starting point to recreate a compelling story about farm life on the American frontier. Eric Soane's talent as an illustrator takes this book to the next level. It is one thing to read about early American life and it is another level of pleasure to see beautiful illustrations that explain the material culture in which Noah Blake lived.

The audience for this book is very large. Written at a high school freshman level, this book will be of interest to anyone interested in learning how common people lived during the Federalist Period. This book will also appeal to all those who are interested in the material culture of 19th Century America. Sloane provides beautiful illustrations of how things like a water mill worked or how a simple wooden bridge was built.

Personally, my interest in American vernacular architecture. I loved this book because Eric Sloane has done a masterful job of explaining early American building techniques. I knew that one had to be very knowledgable to survive 200 years ago and this book only reinforces my admiration for our ancestors. For those who like these types of books, check out the illustrated works of Edwin Tunis, another talented artist with an interest in material culture.

I read this book as a young adult. It was like turning back the clock one hundred and fifty years, but unlike a lot of history books, it has no political, social or moral agenda. Indeed, it paints a luminous picture of rural life, while giving more useful information in the text of the diary and in the annotated pen-and-ink illustrations than most "country living" manuals. Check out Eric Sloane's barn books as well - more masterful work!

A year in the life of Noah Blake and his Mother and Father in 1805. An extraordinary find and priceless historical document. Found by Eric Sloane amongst the ruins of an ancient house; he highlights young Noah's words with brilliant pen and ink drawings which breathe of a rich and prosperous life. This book returns us to a more simpler time where life was in accordance with the seasons...and all was at peace.

I love especially the beautiful ink drawings. They really make the book even more descriptive. You can imagine everything so well, even if you're not that great with the English language. I also like the author's explanations about the development of certain words and his annotations. The authentizism of the diary and the imagination of an author make a perfect blend.

Sloane has a way of making even the most obscure information easily understood and enjoyed. I have read many books about the history of this era and found his not only easiest to read (my 8 year old son enjoyed it!) but also one of the most complete. I am a Land surveyor and have searched many texts for information and I believe I learned more in this book than in any of the others. An easy read, highly entertaining, very educational what more could you want. I only wish that this book would be used as a text in middle-school history classes. If it were then I think more students would find a love for history.

I love this book! It is so real and life like! The drawings and all the actual entrys from his diary. I sent this book to a friend who lives in africa and HE LOVED IT!

One of only 100 books accepted into the Presidents early American library, Sloans book comes alive in your hands. I was unable to put it down! Sloane uses his vast knowledge and imagination to fill in rich detail and walk the reader through events recorded in fifteen year old Noah Blake's diary. Fantastic pen and ink drawings stunningly display life in America in 1805. Sloane takes the reader back in time and leaves him changed forever. You MUST read this book

My boys and I read this together for our T.O.G. curriculum. It is told well and includes enough pictures so that my 10, 8 & 6yr. old got a good idea of what their life may have been like if lived during that time. Be careful to never buy a copy that has any looseness in its binding.