At School: Long Ago and Today »

An introduction to how education has changed in the past one hundred years, discussing how buildings and classrooms, books and lessons, recess and after school activities, and ...

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Each slim volume presents a topic and compares and contrasts yesteryear's methods, practices, and norms with those of today. For example, in School, readers learn that in a span of 120 years, families in the U.S. went from being mostly rural to mainly urban, changing the way schools were operated and maintained. Most spreads address one topic (e.g., "Types of Homes, "Hot Weather Fun," "Shopping for Clothes," "The Classroom"), with one page describing how it was "long ago" and the other, how it is "today." Each page includes a paragraph of large-print text and a period photo or reproduction that enhances the comparisons. In At Home and At School, diverse groups are shown in both then and now photos. While the introductions state, "This is what you may have been doing if you lived 100 years ago," or something similar, none of the archival photos are dated. There are occasional broad generalizations and simplistic remarks, but overall the idea of how things have changed (or not) comes across. In each title, occasional "Times Change" factoids tell what happened in a certain year (first skateboard, school attendance became a law, etc.). Additional titles.-Jennifer England, The Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.