Frontier Home [Hardcover]

Raymond Bial (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 1993 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Photos of pioneer tools, homes, and daily life become a record that testifies to the indomitable will and spirit of the early settlers of the West.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. Similar in format to Bial's Amish Home , this book introduces readers to life on the American frontier. Bial briefly describes the clearing of land and the making of early cabins and their furnishings, including beds, tables, benches, toys, rifles, ammunition, clothing, soap, candles, and cookware. Occasional quotes from the diaries and reminiscences of pioneers add individual voices. Taken in full color at pioneer villages and sites in the Midwest, well-composed pictures of objects inside and outside of frontier homes appear on nearly every page. Concrete details of pioneer life will hold readers' interest despite the sometimes static quality of the writing. Bial's photography gives the book a look of integrity as well as a window into the lives of the pioneers. Carolyn Phelan

From Kirkus Reviews

In another lyrical yet precise text, Bial (Amish Home, p. 142) invites readers to imagine traveling by Conestoga wagon to an uncertain future on the American frontier. Bial details the daily life and concerns of settlers, adding immediacy with several quotes from early settlers, both male and female. (A few unfamiliar words--``puncheons''; ``flintlock''--aren't well defined in context; a glossary would have been welcome.) The presentation is enhanced by sharp, beautifully composed, unpeopled color photos, not captioned but well placed in relation to a text that's short enough so that the lack of an index won't inhibit use for reports. Bibliography. (Nonfiction. 9-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 27, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395640466
• ISBN-13: 978-0395640463
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,469,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Raymond Bial (pronounced Beal) is the author and photo-illustrator of more than one hundred critically-acclaimed books for children and adults, including Amish Home, Frontier Home, The Underground Railroad, Where Lincoln Walked, One-Room School, Ghost Towns of the American West, Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side, Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River, The Super Soybean, and many others. A skilled photographer, he works with ease in both color and in black and white. Working with both film cameras and digital equipment, he is best known for his versatility in portraiture, landscapes, and still lifes, and his sensitivity toward the people, places, and objects portrayed in his images.
The subjects of Raymond's books range from farm life to American social and cultural history. Appealing to young and old alike, his books are ideal choices for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to share with children. His most recent photo-essays are Ellis Island: Coming to the Land of Liberty, and Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River, published by Houghton-Mifflin, and The Super Soybean, published by Albert Whitman. He has also written three popular collections of mystery fiction for children: The Fresh Grave and Other Ghostly Stories, The Ghost of Honeymoon Creek, and most recently Shadow Island: A Tale of Lake Superior, published by Bluehorse Books. His books have received numerous awards from the American Library Association, National Council of Teachers of English, Children's Book Council, and many other organizations. He lives with his wife, Linda, and children, Sarah and Luke, in Urbana, Illinois. His daughter Anna, who illustrated two of Raymond's books, is a fashion designer in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of interesting details, December 2, 2007

By 

Grandma GG (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frontier Home (Hardcover)

I am working on my in-law's family history. They were early settlers in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. This book offers a lot of fascinating bits about every day life on the frontier. I want my grandchildren to have some reference to the lives of their ancestors, and this book beautifully helps to provide that.