Growing Up in a New Century
Judith P. Josephson
Lerner Publications, 2003
"We came back and had a dance on the roof until Father and Mother heard and quickly stopped [us]."
- Kermit Roosevelt, age fifteen in 1908, writing about New Year's Eve at his home, the White House,
The turn of the century brought big changes for America and for American children. Although many children worked in factories and mines, others like President Roosevelt's eight-year-old son, Kermit, were given the chance to play and have fun, unlike their parents and grandparents. Unlike their mothers and grandmothers, girls such as Sarah Evelyn Baylor could ride a bike wearing "bloomers" instead of long skirts. With the advent of electricity, cars, flight, indoor plumbing, and more, it was a whole new world for America's first twentieth-century children. Through personal accounts in letters, diaries, photos, and more, look into the past to see how actual children lived and grew up during the first years of the "century of the child."
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Web sites with more information on the turn of the last century(1900s):
Growing Up in a New Century: 1890-1914
Runner-Up, San Diego Book Awards, "Juvenile History"
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