Reviewed for professional publication. ( )

Sally Walker’s “Boundaries: How the Mason-Dixon Line Settled a Family Feud and Divided a Nation," is a truly informative read for anyone interested in the history of the Mason Dixon line. This book gained Walker the Sibert Medal.

In the author’s note, Walker admits that when she began research for the book, she believed, “That the Mason Dixon Line has something to do with the Missouri Compromise and the Civil War...My perception changed considerably” (p. 183). Prior to reading this book, my thoughts were like Walker’s, I thought the Mason Dixon Line was just a line that divided the North and the South. As a history major, I was embarrassed that I did not know the true origin of the line and the history behind it.

This book taught me so much more than I previously knew. In particular, the early disputes between Maryland and Pennsylvania over their state’s boundaries. Certain parts of the book were hard to get through, mostly when Walker is describing the tools that Mason and Dixon used for the exploration of the land. Walker goes into a lot of detail to describe these tools and their importance. While it is important to know this information, sometimes it felt too much. But for the most part this a great book that tells about a very interesting part of history.

While the Mason Dixon Line does divide the North and South, it is so much more important then many people know. I think this book would be a great addition to any American History classroom. While it is quite a long book, pieces can be used to supplement different lessons on different areas of American History. This is a book that anyone interested in American History should read! ( )

Excellent presentation. A not-too-long book with more than enough information encompassing history, biographical presentation, scientific procedure, astronomy, to satisfy research in each of those domains. Some aspects were beyond my scientific back-ground or interest, but easily skimmed. Drawings, primary sources; this is the type book to offer adults or young students; it may be sufficient but is definitely the book to set the stage for further investigation. (And it identified just who and what the 'Mason-Dixon line' refers to!) ( )

--Boundaries: How the Mason-Dixon Line Settled a Family Feud and Divided a Nation is a specialized book that focuses on the history of the Mason-Dixon Line, from sixteenth century England to modern-day America. In a chronological format, this book includes the colonial dispute over the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary, the surveying of the colonial territories, and how the boundary divided a nation. Each chapter is appropriately titled and allow for an easy way to search the text (ex. Whose Land and Freedom’s Boundary). The author does a great job joining the topics together and allowing them to flow with ease. However, the author does spend a lot of time discussing the surveying of the Mason-Dixon Line, which gives the book unbalanced coverage and can be a bit boring.--

Sally M. Walker is the author of several picture books, books for early readers, book series, and nonfiction books for older readers. The latter collection include history books like Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown, The Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917, and Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. Walker is the winner of myriad awards, including awards from the American Library Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Council for the Social Studies.

In one of Walker’s most recent works, Boundaries: How the Mason-Dixon Line Settled a Family Feud and Divided a Nation, Walker puts her skills as a writer and researcher to the test. This book proves that Walker can definitely handle the task of writing a “history” book worthy of praise.

The use of “tan” on the books cover may come across as dirty and dull, but this is far from the truth. The color on the cover represents the stability and practicality of the book. Illustrated with images of surveying equipment, cursive writing, a picture of William Penn Jr., and a photo of an unknown woman standing on the Mason-Dixon boundary stone, the cover is comforting and quiet.

The book opens to “blue” end pages that invoke a sense of wisdom. The end pages continue the same feeling of calm that the reader initially felt when they viewed the book’s cover. Blue sets the stage for this book’s success.

The inside flaps of the book provide a brief summary of the book and pulls the reader, who more than likely does not know that the Mason-Dixon Line’s history travels as far back as a colonial land dispute. The closing flap gives a briefly discusses some of Walker’s works and her ancestral relationship to the Mason-Dixon Line.

The hardback copy is printed in portrait format on low-white gloss paper, which allows for easy reading. The typeface is sophisticated and does not shout at the reader. The print is clearly legible in a serif font and spaced appropriately.

The table of contest is gorgeously printed. The book is divided into an introduction, thirteen chapters printed in a larger font, an epilogue, author’s notes, source notes, bibliography, photography credits, and index. The chapters have very brief titles that are relevant and in chronological order.

All of the illustrations are well placed in positions applicable to the text. The book is amazingly illustrated with diagrams, pictures, maps, documents, drawings, and photographs. (I was astounded by the photograph of “a younger” Fredrick Douglas.) The author relied on sources like the Library of Congress, The Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Historical Society of Philadelphia for pictures. Walker even used some of her own photos in this book.

The introduction is very short and almost disappointing. Careful examination will show that the introduction is nothing more than a recap of the summary given on the inside flap. That is okay though. Most readers skip the introduction and head straight to the narrative. Here is where the book redeems itself.

The book’s organization and thoroughness is what makes this a phenomenal read. The author tackles a subject that is so profound. The reader must remember that this boundary, the Mason-Dixon Line, has a history that began in sixteenth-century England, not in America’s nineteenth-century civil war.

The book begins with the story of Charles Calvert, a Catholic and the son of George Calvert, and William Penn, a Quaker. Both were Englishmen who set off to establish new colonies across the Atlantic Ocean, Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively. The boundaries and borders of the two colonies would prove to be more than troublesome.

Maryland was granted land north of the Potomac River and south of the 40th parallel. Pennsylvania was given a charter that granted it land that allowed it to stretch as far south as the 40th parallel. With this contradiction of land ownership, both provinces attempted to tax settlers. Questions of ownership and loyalty sparked incidents of sporadic violence. This problem had to be resolved.

In 1761, surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were hired to establish the boundaries between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Because the book spends about six chapters discussing the work of Mason and Dixon, the narrative gets weird. The historical aspect of the book is lost, and the narrative begins to journey into a more technical realm with the discussions of surveying techniques and equipment. I soon realized that this book, one that I thought would focus strictly on history, can also be incorporated into science classrooms.

Do not be mistaken. The book does not lose its fascination. After focusing on how the line was created, the author talks about the Mason-Dixon Line as a sign of freedom in the well-titled chapter Freedom’s Boundary. “When the Pennsylvania assembly passed the 1780 abolition act, Mason and Dixon’s West Line literally became the boundary line between free state and slave state” (160). This line would later divide the country during the American Civil War.

The final chapter discusses the contemporary Mason-Dixon Line. The governments of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware had the boundary resurveyed several times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Because most of the original markers were missing, new stones boundary stones were placed at pertinent locations. The book concludes with photographs of people next to and on the Mason-Dixon boundary stones.

The epilogue of this book is “cool.” Walker lists short biographies of those “who played a role in Mason and Dixon’s American adventure…” (180). A brief description of a piece of surveying equipment, thought to be lost until it was rediscovered in 1912, is also added to the epilogue.

Walker’s author’s notes are discuss her love for American History and her research journey as she set out to discover the history of the Mason-Dixon Line. Walker mentions the many people who helped her and abundant amount of documents she uncovered. Not only did Walker conduct her research in America; she also traveled to England where the story originated.

Instead of citing the sources within the text, Walker uses source notes. This practice allows for easier reading. The bibliography includes a plethora of primary sources, books, articles, and suggested websites for further reading. This book contains neither a glossary nor does it contain an appendix. However, it does have a user-friendly index with names, places, and ideas that may be of interest to the reader.

While UNO only has one other book on the history of the Mason-Dixon Line, Mason and Dixon’s Line of Fire (1991), this would be a great addition to its history collection. This is a great read for older (high school) students. The tone is somewhat dry, yet informative. With that, some students may lose interest in the book. ( )