COLONIAL VOICES

Ever wonder what it felt like to be in Boston on December 16, 1773—the day of the infamous Boston Tea Party? At dawn, Ethan, the errand boy, heads out to deliver newspapers containing a notice from the Sons of Liberty about a secret meeting that night at Old South Church. Everywhere Ethan goes, there’s a sense of urgency. Everyone has an opinion about the King and his tea tax. En route, Ethan encounters the printer, the shoemaker, the basket trader, the milliner, the midwife, the barber, the blacksmith and his African slave, the clockmaker and the silversmith’s apprentice. By nightfall, Ethan arrives at the meeting where patriots opt to turn Boston harbor into a teapot and defy the King. Told from the perspectives of ordinary citizens engaged in ordinary work, the text conveys the diversity and defiance of the times. Engaging ink-and-watercolor illustrations contrast the drama of this historical event with details of everyday life in the streets and shops of colonial Boston. Savory historical fare. (historical notes, glossary, bibliography) (Picture book. 9-12)