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Children of the Great Depression (Golden Kite Awards) [Hardcover]

Russell Freedman (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Hardcover, December 26, 2005 $17.10  
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Book Description

December 26, 2005 10 and up5 and upGolden Kite Awards
As he did for frontier children in his enormously popular Children of the Wild West, Russell Freedman illuminates the lives of the American children affected by the economic and social changes of the Great Depression. Middle-class urban youth, migrant farm laborers, boxcar kids, children whose families found themselves struggling for survival . . . all Depression-era young people faced challenges like unemployed and demoralized parents, inadequate food and shelter, schools they couldn’t attend because they had to go to work, schools that simply closed their doors. Even so, life had its bright spots—like favorite games and radio shows—and many young people remained upbeat and optimistic about the future.

Drawing on memoirs, diaries, letters, and other firsthand accounts, and richly illustrated with classic archival photographs, this book by one of the most celebrated authors of nonfiction for children places the Great Depression in context and shows young readers its human face. Endnotes, selected bibliography, index.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp $9.95

Children of the Great Depression (Golden Kite Awards) + Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp


Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 4-8–Few authors are as well suited as Freedman to present a clear and understandable outline of this period. His prose is straightforward and easily comprehensible, making sense of even the complexities of the stock-market crash. The use of primary sources is outstanding. This is a book told by chorus, featuring the voices of those who endured the Depression, and is embellished with black-and-white photos by such luminaries as Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, and Russell Lee. Eight chapters cover the causes of the Great Depression, schooling, work life, migrant work, the lives of children who rode the rails, entertainment, and the economic resurgence of the early '40s. Chapter notes and an excellent bibliography round out another superb photo-essay by a veteran author. A wonderful, informed, and sympathetic overview that perfectly complements Jerry Stanley's Children of the Dust Bowl (Random, 1992).–Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. "It's my sister's turn to eat," a hungry child tells her teacher. Quotes like that one bring home what it was like to be young and poor in Depression America. This stirring photo-essay combines such unforgettable personal details with a clear historical overview of the period and black-and-white photos by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and many others. As Freedman says, these images "convey in human terms the true meaning of economic statistics." His signature plainspoken prose does that, too, on every spacious, double-page spread, whether he is focusing on differences of race and class or on child sharecroppers, factory workers, migrant farm laborers, or boxcar kids. There are many books about particular people and regions during this period--among them, Jerry Stanley's Children of the Dust Bowl (1992); Milton Meltzer's Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1991); and Freedman's own award-winning biographies of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt--and Freedman quotes from a number of them, as well as from adult sources, documenting everything in a final bibliographic essay and notes that are a rich part of the story, not the usual cramped, dutiful acknowledgments. An excellent starting place for investigating the Depression in middle school and junior high, this eloquent book will also appeal to older readers, including adults who know family stories about how it was or, possibly, lived the history themselves. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  • Hardcover: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Clarion Books; None edition (December 26, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0618446303
  • ISBN-13: 978-0618446308
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 10.2 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Russell Freedman received the Newbery Medal for LINCOLN: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY. He is also the recipient of three Newbery Honors, a National Humanities Medal, the Sibert Medal, the Orbis Pictus Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and was selected to give the 2006 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Mr. Freedman lives in New York City and travels widely to research his books.

 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars At least one in five was hungry, August 2, 2006
This review is from: Children of the Great Depression (Golden Kite Awards) (Hardcover)
I thought this was an excellent introduction to the Depression years for younger readers. Russell Freedman writes in a straightforward style and nicely avoids contractions ('did not' instead of 'didn't') popping up throughout his text. There are two stories in these pages: the Depression plus life in the Thirties and these same years as they relate to children, so there are chapters devoted to 'In and out of school', 'Kids at work' and 'Boxcar kids' for example.

What really makes the book come alive for me are the powerful photos, all with captions including the date and photographer. Virtually all of them are from the now famous FSA files in the Library of Congress. Russell Lee, Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein and Ben Shahn have the most and they perfectly work with the text. As well as great photos the design of the book is simple and elegant with the photos printed in a sepia green, there is a bibliography and index.

Another worthwhile childrens book about the same period is Welcome to Kit's World, 1934 : Growing Up During America's Great Depression (The American Girls Collection) beautifully designed with the story told as extended captions to the hundreds of photos and period graphics. This title is really aimed at young girls.

For a photobook of FSA children images have a look at Children of the Depression a large format, one photo to a page book that probably has the best of what is available from the Library of Congress photo files. This book is mentioned in the bibliography of 'Children of the Great Depression'

All three books explore the lives of children in hard times with sympathetic words and powerful pictures.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable Stories, August 30, 2011
I'm under 40, a retired professional athlete, a true blue Californian, and have never spent much time either the Oklahoma or Texas Panhandles, and even though I have seemingly very little in common with the young people featured in Children of the Great Depression, I really enjoyed this excellent book.

If the "boxcar children" don't grab your heart, nothing will.

Thank goodness for historical books like this one and The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, as well as historical novels like Robert Boyd Delano's The Happy Immortals, for we can learn greatness from the men, women and young people who went through these years.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Children of the Great Depression, February 22, 2010
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This review is from: Children of the Great Depression (Golden Kite Awards) (Hardcover)
This is an awesome book. I ordered it for a Children's Literature class, but I am definitly going to keep this. The pictures are great, and the information interesting.
Highly recommended!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The cold reality of America's Great Depression was brought home to one twelve-year-old boy in 1931 when he came upon his father in the empty coal bin of the family's Brookline, Massachusetts, house. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
boxcar kids
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Great Depression, Eleanor Roosevelt, New York City, United States, Dust Bowl, Jack Armstrong, New Madrid County, Red House, West Virginia, North Carolina, World War
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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