By Peg Meier
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS, $29.95
Each chapter in this delightful book comprises a collage of historical accounts from or relating to Minnesota children. For example, 13-year-old Coco Irvine complained in 1927 of the food at her private school: “Awful old school. At lunch we had codfish balls and old dead salad.” Meanwhile, in 1931, 9-year-old June Oberg of Two Harbors wrote to the governor on behalf of a classmate who was often whipped harshly. The accounts in this compulsively readable book reveal at once the universality of human experience and the sometimes-challenging circumstances Minnesota children have faced. –Shelby Gonzalez