Ghost Walls

The Story of a 17th-Century Colonial Homestead

  • Interest Level: Grade 5 - Grade 8
  • Reading Level: Grade 5

In 1638, John Lewger made a home in the wilderness of the New World, in a place called Maryland. He named his house St. John’s, and for nearly eighty years, it was the center of an ambitious English plan to build a new kind of community on American soil. Men and women lived and worked within its walls. Babies were born. Last breaths drawn. St. John’s walls witnessed the first stirrings of the great struggles that would dominate the continent for the next three centuries: The unimaginable wealth of the New World’s crops and natural resources. The promise of religious tolerance under a new model of government. The injustice of slavery. The betrayal of native peoples. The struggle for equality between men and women. If St. John’s walls could have talked, they would have spoken volumes of American history.

And then the walls crumbled. One hundred years after it was built, St. John’s House had been abandoned. The buildings slowly deteriorated, returning to the Maryland soil to be plowed under by generations of Maryland farmers. St. John’s walls were silent for more than two centuries, little more than ghosts haunting the historical and archeological records.

But they weren’t lost. Not entirely.

Award-winning author Sally M. Walker tells the story of how teams of scientists and historians managed to hear the ghostly echoes of St. John’s House and, over the course of decades of painstaking work, made them speak their stories again.

Format Your Price Add
978-0-7613-5408-6
$15.71
978-1-4677-7267-9
$25.99
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Interest Level Grade 5 - Grade 8
Reading Level Grade 5
Genre Social Studies
Copyright 2014
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Books ®
Language English
Number of Pages 136
Publication Date 2014-10-01
Reading Counts! Level 10.5
Text Type Narrative Nonfiction
BISACS JNF025190, JNF025080, JNF051170
Dewey 975.2'02
Graphics Full-color illustrations
Dimensions 7 x 10
Lexile 1150
ATOS Reading Level 7.6
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 168446
Accelerated Reader® Points 5.0
Features Appendix, Author/Illustrator biography, Author/Illustrator note, Bibliography/further reading, Charts/Graphs/Diagrams, Index, Photo captions, Primary source quotations/images, Reviewed, Teaching Guides, and eSource

Author: Sally M. Walker

Sally M. Walker has been a children's book writer for over 20 years. Most of her books are nonfiction and present various science topics to young readers. Fossil Fish Found Alive is the story of the hunt for the elusive fish called the coelacanth. Sally also enjoys combining science investigation with historical topics. Her book Secrets of a Civil War Submarine, which won the 2006 Robert F. Sibert Medal, tells about the history, loss, and re-discovery of the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in battle. Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland takes readers on archaeological expeditions, where the forensic analysis of colonial settlers' bones helps us to understand their lives. Sally especially enjoys writing narrative nonfiction that captures the reader's attention with a true story. She is also the author of 2019 Orbis Pictus Honor Book Champion: The Comeback Tale of the American Chestnut.

Lerner eSource™ offers free digital teaching and learning resources, including Common Core State Standards (CCSS) teaching guides. These guides, created by classroom teachers, offer short lessons and writing exercises that give students specific instruction and practice using Common Core skills and strategies. Lerner eSource also provides additional resources including online activities, downloadable/printable graphic organizers, and additional educational materials that would also support Common Core instruction. Download, share, pin, print, and save as many of these free resources as you like!

Ghost Walls

In 1638, John Lewger made a home in the wilderness of the New World, in a place called Maryland. He named his house St. John’s, and for nearly eighty years, it was the center of an ambitious English plan to build a new kind of community on American soil. Men and women lived and… View available downloads →

Reviews

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Teens fascinated by archaeological fieldwork will appreciate Walker’s inclusion not only of the dig but the reasoning behind many of the archaeologists’ conclusions (often tentative and changeable) concerning use of space and artifacts.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Booklist

“A detailed resource for those studying colonial Maryland, this well-researched book will also interest aspiring archaeologists.” —Booklist

Kirkus Reviews

“The author’s considerable skill at bringing historical stories to life is on display.” —Kirkus Reviews