Historic Communities
Games From Long Ago by Bobbie Kalman, 1995.
This book is about games people would play in 19th century America. There is a variety of different types of games, although the main focus is on parlor games. Many of them have been passed on for generations by word of mouth and are still played today, such as Charades and Blind Man’s Buff, although the book discusses games that are no longer common.
One important concept in 19th century games was the “forfeit”, where losing players would have to perform a kind of silly stunt. The other players might hold onto an object belonging to the losing player, holding it as hostage until they performed the stunt. Forfeits were a common part of parlor games.
The book also talks about popular tabletop games such as dominoes, cards, tiddlywinks, and pick-up sticks. Because dice were often associated with gambling, movements in board games were often determined by spinners or special numbered spinning tops called “teetotums,” which look something like dreidels but with more sides. Board games for children were often educational, teaching them about subjects like history or geography or moral lessons, rewarding “good” decisions and penalizing “bad” ones (although, since movements in these games were determined by spinners, the players were at the mercy of the random chance as to which of these choices their playing pieces landed on, not making actual good and bad decisions by themselves).
There are also examples of games played at work parties, parties or “bees” organized around farm tasks such as barn-building or harvests. These parties might include a hay maze (like a corn maze, but with hay sheaves), a game of Gossip (an early version of Telephone, played exactly the same way), or Bobbing for Apples.
There is a short section about games for specific holidays, although there are only three given. Two of them are for Christmas (one of those is a basic version of Pinata called Bag and Stick), and one for Valentine’s Day. There are also sections about outdoor games and sports.
The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.
The Twin in the Tavern by Barbara Brooks Wallace, 1993.
It’s 1851, and Professor Carver of Boston is living in an apartment above a candle shop with his wife and two children, his son Jamie and daughter Lorna. One day, a man named Mr. Giddings comes to see Professor Carver to request his help. For years, he has wanted to buy a particular farm with a beautiful house called Windy Hill. However, when he finally succeeded in buying the house and he and his wife went to live there, his wife became very upset. She said that she felt strange in the house and that she had seen a ghost. Now, she is too upset to return to Windy Hill. Mr. Giddings has heard that Professor Carver once helped a friend get rid of a ghost haunting his house, and he asks the professor if he would be willing to do the same for him.
Jamie and Lorna are thrilled by the house, which is much bigger than their apartment in town. They can each have their own room, and there is an old tower in the house that was built by a former owner, who was always paranoid about Indian (Native American) attacks (something which had never actually happened). However, their new neighbors are kind of strange. Stover, the handyman, warns them that the house is haunted and also tells them about another neighbor, Miss Miggie. Miss Miggie is an old woman who wanders around, all dressed in white, and likes to spy on people. There is also a boy named Bruno, who apparently can’t walk and often begs at the side of the road with his pet goat, and his father, Tench, who is often drunk and doesn’t want people to make friends with Bruno.
Then, strange things do start happening in the house. The quilt that Lorna has been making disappears and reappears in another room in the middle of the night. At first, the family thinks maybe she was walking in her sleep because she had done it before, when she was younger. However, there is someone who has been entering the house without the Carvers’ knowledge, and Jamie and Lorna set a trap that catches the mysterious “ghost.”
Midnight Magic by Avi, 1999.
Felicity’s grandfather is a wealthy man who owns the Kings Cross Plantation. Every summer, Felicity and her family go to visit him there, and Felicity loves it. Her grandfather teaches her a lot of things, like which plants can be used for food and medicine, and takes her for horse rides around his estate.
Ben tells Felicity that he ran away from his apprenticeship to join the revolutionary army. He wants badly to fight for the colonies’ freedom from England, but he had a bad fall while traveling and hurt his leg. Felicity tries to convince Ben to let her get help for him and to return to her father to finish his apprenticeship, but Ben doesn’t want Felicity’s grandfather to find out that he’s there or why he ran away because he knows that he disapproves of the revolutionaries. Because Ben kept her secret when she used to sneak out to see Penny, Felicity reluctantly agrees to keep Ben’s presence a secret for awhile, sneaking him some food and supplies. She tells Ben that, while she thinks that standing up for what he believes is good, he’s going about it in the wrong way because breaking his apprenticeship was dishonest.
This is the second book in the 
Then, Felicity’s father declares that because of the tax on tea, he will no longer carry it in his shop. It leaves Felicity feeling conflicted about Miss Manderly’s lessons, which include the proper way to serve tea. She has started enjoying the lessons and doesn’t want to lose Elizabeth’s friendship, but she wants to support her father, too. Then, Annabelle criticizes Felicity for what her father said at one of the lessons, prompting Felicity to storm out angrily. She is doubly angry and hurt that Elizabeth didn’t try to defend her, making her doubt Elizabeth’s friendship.
This is the first book in the 
Every morning for about a month, Felicity sneaks out of the house early, dressed in a pair of breeches that she borrowed from Ben without his permission. She goes to visit Penny and gradually gains her trust. When Penny finally allows her to ride her, Felicity thinks that she has won ownership of her, but Jiggy Nye accuses her of theft and takes back the horse. He denies that he ever promised to give her to anyone who could ride her, although Felicity’s younger siblings agree that they heard him say so.
This book is part of the 
Besides being a great artist, Leonardo da Vinci is also a scientist, and along with his notes on art, there are sketches and plans for possible inventions in the notebooks. Kat and Pietro go to return the notebooks the next day, but before they can get to Leonardo’s studio, the same thief who tried to steal Signor Millori’s papers steals the notebooks.
The Gentleman Spy — This is the story of Captain John Andre and General Benedict Arnold during the American Revolution. John Andre was a British officer who was executed for his role in helping Benedict Arnold defect to the British side.
The Phantom of the Desert — Lawrence of Arabia was actually Thomas Edward Lawrence, a British army Captain. He helped the Arabs to fight against the Turks during WWI.
In the Kaiser’s Clutch by Kathleen Karr, 1995.
