From Early Stories to Today · Drawing 25
The wood-burning cookstove
The early 20th century
A wood-burning cookstove helped people make meals. Wood burned in one compartment while pots heated on top.
Look together
Where can you see the kettle?
An idea to try
Find the kettle in the drawing, then draw something used today to heat water. Compare their shapes and handles.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
Museum collections preserve wood-burning stoves used for cooking. A documentation guide from the Société des musées du Québec includes one from the Musée régional de Kamouraska dated 1900 to 1925. This range dates that particular object, not every kitchen or cookstove.
In our picture, the fire compartment and cooking surface occupy different places. The kettle gives your child a familiar container to find. Compare the shapes with those in a present-day kitchen, keeping the discussion observational. The simplified, unbranded scene explains an older use; it does not give detailed instructions for putting an old appliance back into service.
Sources and context
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.
Source review: 2026-09-12. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.