With Nothing But Our Courage: The Loyalist Diary of Mary MacDonald

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.

Library Summary: "When Mary's family sides with the British against the American rebels, they are branded traitors and forced to flee their home. All they have is what they can carry with them -- and their determination and courage -- when they head north toward Canada. Along with other Loyalists they hope to start a new life in Québec, where there is land for those who have been loyal to the King. But the journey is treacherous, the winter bitterly cold, and the MacDonalds find it hard to survive. Even with supplies from Britain, clearing the land to build their home is a struggle... but one they survive to forge a new life in a new land."

I liked this book. It's like a window into the past. It made me feel as if I was there.

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Beginning in 1783, twelve-year-old Mary describes her Loyalist family's hardships as they are forced to leave New York State after the American Revolutionary War and flee to Canada.