Customer Reviews

Children of the Great Depression (Golden Kite Awards)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

My daughter got this book from the library for a report she did on the Great Depression. I couldn't help but pick it up and read it. The pictures drew me in. Russell Freedman is always so good at finding wonderful pictures of history. He also has a lot of quotes from actual children of the time period that are so interesting. It was a sad read, but helped me remember how grateful I am for the many blessings we have in this day and age.