Maria's Story, 1773

by Joan Lowery Nixon

Book Overview

When Maria Rind's father dies, her mother is forced to carry on his work: writing and publishing The Virginia Gazette, one of Williamsburg's weekly newspapers. Nine-year-old Maria would like to help... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879352272
• ISBN13: 9780879352271
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Entertaining and Educational

Afraid that her opinionated mother may lose--over politics--a newspaper/printing business her late father worked so hard to create, Maria is determined to help. However, she finds that her mother has other ideas for how Maria should "help" out her struggling family, and those ideas do not include helping with their newspaper. Unlike some of the more popular books for children taking place in historical times, these books are based on the lives of real people. I felt like I genuinely got to know Maria. Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of this book is that it includes information about what happened to the real Maria Rind. _Maria's Story_ truly brings the past alive, and should be enjoyed by any child, or even adult, who is interested in the history of publishing.

Well-researched and accurate.

Maria Rind lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, two years before the Revolutionary War begins. She came to Williamsburg when her father was invited by Thomas Jefferson to start a newspaper. This new paper would print the viewpoint of the colonists and their grievances against England. Other newspapers didn't dare to do that. Her father won a government contract to publish The Virginia Gazette. But then he died. Now Maria's mother, Clementina Rind, must take over his newspaper and keep making money from it, or else her family will become destitute.Maria is only nine-years-old, but she wants very much to help her mother run the newspaper. But Clementina says that Maria's older brother, William, will do that. Maria must take care of her three younger brothers, cook, and run the household while Clementina manages the newspaper. Maria does what she is told, but she believes that if she just knew how to read and write better, her mother would let her help with the paper, too. The only problem is, while her father was sick, her mother couldn't teach Maria her lessons, and Maria can barely read. She doesn't know how to cook, either, and she has to learn everything the hard way --- she has to figure things out by herself because her mother tells Maria not to bother her while she's working on the paper.Maria works hard to teach herself to read, and she finds ways to help her mother with the paper, too. In fact, Maria figures out a solution to one serious problem that nobody else thinks of. This book is based on a true story about a real little girl, Maria Rind, who lived in Williamsburg before and during the Revolutionary War. Her mother, Clementina, really did run the newspaper after her husband died, the only woman ever to do so in the Virginia colony. The book includes several sections of history about Williamsburg, printing, children of the time, and what happened to the real Maria and her family. It has lots of photographs, and the story it tells is well-researched and accurate. You will want to find out how Maria copes with the tragic and dangerous things that happen in her life. And you will see how very unfair life could be to little girls in those days, even when they were smarter than their brothers! --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

I great Historical story.

"Maria's Story 1773" is perfect for young readers, but can reinforce Colonial history to older readers, as well. The story will keep your attention and is a quick read. This book is too young for me, but I still enjoyed it. I really felt torn between the mother's feeling of telling the news and freedom of speech, but also felt for Maria, who felt that if her mother published articles that the community wouldn't like, they wouldn't get the newspaper contract again, which would lead to losing everything. What is great about the "Colonial Willamsburg" series is that readers are learning about ordinary people who really existed. Without this series, I doubt these people, like Maria, would get acknowledge for their hard working lives. After finding out Maria's life in the epilogue, I felt sorry for her and her losses. I recommend.

The fifth historical story from the Young Americans series.

The year is 1773, and nine-year-old Maria Rind is growing up in Williamsburg, Virginia, with her four brothers. When her father dies, the family's life changes forever. Instead of spending her days with her children, Maria's mother must take on her late husband's job of printing the Virginia Gazette. While her older brother, William, gets to help his mother and her cousin, John, print the paper, Maria is left to the tiresome task of caring for her three younger brothers. She is unable to help with the paper because of her poor reading and writing, a result of there being little time for her parents to teach her. With the loyalties of everyone in the Colonies increasingly divided as war looms on the horizon, Maria is worried that her mother's anti-British articles will cause her to lose the government printing contract. This book brought to life the years before the Revolutionary War. Maria was a real child who grew up in Colonial Williamsburg, and the author has done a wonderful job of telling her story.