Cowboys and Coffin-Makers
One Hundred 19th-century Jobs You Might Have Feared or Fancied
by Laurie Coulter
illustrated by Martha Newbigging
An eye-opening guide to 100 career options in 19th-century America.
If you could live in 19th-century America, what job would you want? Sheriff? Prospector? Westbound settlers created many such opportunities, but the country's economy also involved "careers" no one would ever choose, like slavery.
Explore this unique job guide and witness the sweeping changes of the 1800s through the eyes of the workers who helped shape it. You'll discover frontier jobs like cartographer (don't mistake a buffalo herd for a forest, as one unlucky mapmaker did) and wartime jobs (doughboys, for example). Some occupations lost out to new technology (glassblowers couldn't compete with 1,800 bottles-per-hour machines). Others were created because of it (elevator drivers). Social reformers, meanwhile, sought to change the world itself.
Featuring a timeline of the 1800s and upbeat illustrations, this fascinating guide is sure to employ readers' senses of history and humor.
close this panelLaurie Coulter is the author of five other non-fiction books for young people, including To Be a Princess: The Fascinating Lives of Real Princesses and When John and Caroline Lived in the White House.
Martha Newbigging is a graphic designer and film animator, and the illustrator of several books for children.
close this panelIf your kids have fanciful answers for what they "want to be" someday, given them this book.
Author Laurie Coulter gives kids lots of fodder for their imaginations with some common jobs that people actually held two centuries ago, as well as pretty unique occupations that will tickle kids' funnybones.... "Cowboys and Coffin Makers" won't be a bit of a chore for young readers to enjoy.
The 1800s come alive through snappy profiles of the era's employment options, from Civil War doughboys to hokey-pokey sellers. Jaunty illustrations add to the appeal.
Short job descriptions, usually one or two per page, are written in an entertaining sylte and grouped according to headings.... Bright weatercolor, cartoon-style illustrations accompany each job description. The characters' expressions and occasional comments inject additional bit of humor into the text.
