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.
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 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.
Ten-year-old Kat is going to be living with her Aunt Jessie for the next year. Her parents are botanists, and they are spending a year in South America, studying rain forest plants. Aunt Jessie lives in a house in the same town as Kat and her parents so, by staying with her, Kat can continue going to the same school and see her friends.
Basil and the Lost Colony by Eve Titus, 1964.
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.
Mystery on Taboga Island by Patricia Maloney Markun, 1995.
They also introduce Amy to Madame Odelle, who people call The Bird Woman because of all the birds she keeps around her house. She is a widow who lives alone and hardly ever sees people, but she invites the children in and when she learns that Amy is interested in art, she shows them a special painting that her family has had for generations. Madame says that her grandfather bought the painting years ago from a traveling Frenchman who was in need of money. Amy thinks that it looks like one of Paul Gauguin’s paintings, and she knows that some of his work is unaccounted for. However, the initials on the painting are PGO. What could the ‘O’ stand for?
