From Booklist
Gr. 3-6. As editors for the promising In My Own Words series, the Roops organize and prepare the first-person accounts of historical figures and modernize spelling and punctuation to make the writing clear and accessible to young readers. Because each book is short, printed in relatively large type, and illustrated with several attractive watercolor paintings, the result is a series of history books that look appealing, read well, and carry the conviction of original accounts. Page-long sidebars fill in background information that students will need to better understand the times. Based on Jemison's oral account of her story as recorded by James Seaver and published in 1824, the "diary" of Mary Jemison describes her capture by Indians at the age of 12, her adoption by a Seneca family, and her life with the Native Americans. Leeper's story, taken from a book he published in 1894, doesn't read like a diary either, but it is a lively account of his life as forty-niner. Beginning in Indiana, it recounts his adventures crossing the country by wagon train and prospecting for gold in California. Carolyn Phelan
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