Describe the characteristics of the era in which your novel takes place.
My character, Nathaniel is living at the very beginning of the time period called the Gilded Age. He moves to Nebraska with his family looking for a better life. At this time many changes have happened are continuing to quickly occur, such as the Homestead Act of 1862, which is the reason why Nathaniel’s family moved. It was a law passed that let families move out west and claim land. At this time many families like Nathaniel’s were struggling. In places like New York immigrants from other countries were coming into the nation. There were too many people and not enough jobs. Pay was low and living conditions were poor. People, such as immigrants felt …show more content…
Select TWO situations or scenes and provide evidence from the text and your independent research to support your conclusion.
Did children not have to go to school if they were helping their parents on the farm?
In 1855 a law was passed to have free public schooling, but not all children went. In 1860 only thirty percent of children went to school. Normally, school ran from October through to May. This way children were available to help their parents in the farms. Even if they could attend school one day they didn't have to. It was not yet a law that children must attend school.
Was it true that orphans would be shipped out west on trains from the east coast to be adopted?
In 1853 Charles Loring Brace, head of the Children's Aid Society started an act called the Orphan Train Movement. It brought orphan children on the streets of the east coast to the Midwest on trains for a ‘better life.’ From there children were informally adopted by any eligible to and brought into these families.
Discuss how the information in your novel added to your existing knowledge of the time …show more content…
The book says it was written by Alexandria LaFaye. I have done research and it shows that she teaches history at Plattsburgh State University, New York, beginning in 1998 and starting in 2011 she has taught at Greenville College as a Language, Literature and Culture teacher. LaFaye has degrees in English, History, Children’s Literature and Creative Writing from several different universities. She has also won medals for the several books she has written, some being quite prestigious. Also, as I read the book I researched things about the time period and everything she put into the novel seemed to be