We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History [Hardcover]

Phillip M Hoose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2001 | Age Range: 10 and up | Lexile Measure: 950L (What's this?)

"This may be the most exhilarating and revelatory history of our country. It is must reading for today's youth-as well as their elders." --Studs Terkel

From the boys who sailed with Columbus to today's young activists, this unique book brings to life the contributions of young people throughout American history. Based on primary sources and including 160 authentic images, this handsome oversized volume highlights the fascinating stories of more than 70 young people from diverse cultures. Young readers will be hooked into history as they meet individuals their own age who were caught up in our country's most dramatic moments-Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped from his village in western Africa and forced into slavery, Anyokah, who helped her father create a written Cherokee language, Johnny Clem, the nine-year-old drummer boy who became a Civil War hero, and Jessica Govea, a teenager who risked joining Cesar Chavez's fight for a better life for farmworkers. Throughout, Philip Hoose's own lively, knowledgeable voice provides a rich historical context-making this not only a great reference-but a great read. The first U.S. history book of this scope to focus on the role young people have played in the making of our country, its compelling stories combine to tell our larger national story, one that prompts Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, to comment, "This is an extraordinary book-wonderfully readable, inspiring to young and old alike, and unique."

 

We Were There Too! is a 2001 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Quick--name five noteworthy children in U.S. history. If you're like most, you probably stalled after Sacagawea and Pocahontas. Young people have always gotten short shrift when it comes to the record of American history. And yet, wouldn't the study of history be far more compelling to students if they could relate to figures their own age? Author Phillip Hoose believes so. He found that behind every major event in U.S. history were young people--brave, fearful, poor, rich, adventurous, clever, tragic, curious, and strong. We Were There, Too! examines the lives of dozens of youth who helped shape our nation: Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin did the very same thing. On one of Columbus's voyages to the New World, 56 (out of 99) crew members were 18 or younger. In 1814 two sisters from Massachusetts, Rebecca Bates, 19, and Abigail, 15, routed approaching British soldiers by playing "Yankee Doodle" on fife and drum. The British, believing an American army was congregating for an attack, turned and fled. And in contemporary times, 13-year-old Ryan White, infected with AIDS, stood up to a school district that wanted to prevent him from going to school, eating in the cafeteria, and having a normal life with his friends.

Every story in this beautifully written volume is a heartening example of the spirit of young people. Each essay is accompanied by photos or illustrations, as well as sidebars with fascinating related tidbits of information. Readers of all ages will find a multitude of new heroes to respect and emulate. This is one history book that should be on every shelf. (Ages 10 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

Hoose's (It's Our World, Too!) impressive survey places young people at the center of every event that shaped America, from 12-year-old Diego Berm£dez who sailed with Christopher Columbus in 1492 to high school junior Claudette Colvin's refusal to give up her seat in 1955 Montgomery, Ala., nine months before Rosa Parks. The diverse contributions of these gutsy children and teens include 16-year-old Deborah Sampson, who masqueraded as Private Robert Shirtliffe and fought in the Revolutionary War, and 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall who, in the absence of many major league players-turned-soldiers, pitched for the Cincinnati Reds during WWII. Readers will appreciate the brief epilogues that explain what happened to each person in adulthood. For instance, Chuka, a nine-year-old Hopi Indian subjected to assimilation in white schools in 1899, "struggled to live in two worlds" throughout his life, and high school junior Peggy Eaton, who rode the rails in 1938, continued to live a life of adventure as a missionary and mountain climber. Informative sidebars provide additional, and sometimes humorous, historical asides to the biographical profiles (e.g., a story problem in a Confederate math book during the Civil War calculates the death toll of Yankees). Pictures, maps and prints help bring these stories to life, but it is the actions of these young people that will inspire readers to realize that they, too, can play a part in making America's history. Ages 10-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Age Range: 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374382522
• ISBN-13: 978-0374382520
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mr. Hoose is an award-winning author of books, essays, stories, songs, and articles. Although he first wrote for adults, he turned his attention to children and young adults in part to keep up with his own daughters.

His children's book, "Hey, Little Ant" (Tricycle Press, 1998), inspired by his daughter Ruby and co-authored by his daughter Hannah, received a Jane Addams Children's Book Award.

His "It's Our World, Too! Stories of Young People Who Are Making a Difference" (Little, Brown, 1993) won a Christopher Award for "artistic excellence in books affirming the highest values of the human spirit."

His most recent book, "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" (Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2004) received the Boston Globe Horn Book Award and was named a Top Ten American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults among many additional honors. "We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History" (Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001) was a finalist for the National Book Award. In addition, it was dubbed a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and an International Reading Association Teacher's Choice.

PHILLIP HOOSE was born in South Bend, Indiana, and grew up in the towns of South Bend, Angola, and Speedway, Indiana. He was educated at Indiana University and the Yale School of Forestry. He lives in Portland, Maine.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extraordinary History Book..... August 19, 2001

By Roz Levine

Format:Hardcover

Do you know who Deborah Sampson, Eunice Williams or Joseph Miliauskas are? How about John Tinker, Johnny Clem and Claudette Colvin? These six names are among the more than seventy young people profiled in Phillip Hoose's marvelously unique history book, We Were There, Too!. From the boys who sailed to America with Columbus and all through the history of this country, young people have contributed to every important event that helped shape our nation. Each of Mr Hoose's painstakingly researched and beautifully written stories is both compelling and engaging and includes photographs and/or other artwork and additional related historical information about the world at that time. Youngsters will be fascinated and inspired and history will come alive, as they read about young people their own age who stood up and made a difference. Perfect for kids 10 and older, We Were There, Too! chronicles a part of history, often overlooked and is a book that should be savored and enjoyed by everyone, young and old alike.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars another side to history December 24, 2001

By Rebecca Brown

Format:Hardcover

If you've got a student who is bored by history as we know it "We Were There, Too!" will go a long way to getting that student re-engaged again!

Across the parade of time, from Diego Bermudez sailing off into the unknown with Christopher Columbus(did you realize that most of the crews of those three ships were in fact boys?) to the well-known peacemaker Pocahontas in 1607 to unknown Oloudah Equiano from Benin, Africa of 1756. Pictures from books of those years & sidebars which illustrate the way people lived & thought as well as a paragraph about What Happened to... bring our story to life.

From Strangers in Paradise: The British Colonies where young boys ran away to sea to see the New World to those captured by the First People & taken away to live with them to those in Africa sold into slavery.

From Breaking Away: The American Revolution when boys & girls, each with their own skills helped sound the alarm, translated the melting pot of languages, listened to the enemy & joined up in the Continental Army.

From Learning to Be a Nation when youngsters confused the enemy, sewed flags & uniforms, discovered alphabets & fled other parts of the world to come join in the making of this new nation.

From One Nation or Two? When thousands of young men & a few young women joined up to fight the Civil War which tore this nation apart. Girls who became doctors & sculptors, boys who went whaling, were POWs & pilots in the Underground Railroad.

From Elbow Room when hundreds of thousands of parents headed West & their sons & daughters went along for the ride(more often they walked!...) & took along cows, journals, horses & the children of the First People who survived the encounter with this flood of strangers who would change their lives forwever.

In Shifting Gears in a New Century the children of our history worked terribly hard - in sweatshops & mines, led strikes for better, safer conditions & worked on ocean liners, put their lives on the line for politics & began to work in front of the cameras in that newfangled Hollywood industry.

In Hard Times: War, Depression, and Dust - from one World War to the next, children fully participated beside their elders - whether braving mob actions, riding the rails to food & a future or fighting for world freedom in faraway places or playing national baseball for the first time at home.

When the Times That Kept a-Changin' came around children braved hate-filled crowds on their way to school; were migrant workers who organized unions; got bedazzled by computers in their infancy(the computers, not the kids!) & fought for a girls' basketball league, the right to go to school & to save the environment.

All in all - "We Were There, Too!" is an important book to help young people feel how we used to live & think about life & how some young people, in today's world, are still making history. Read more ›

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating Insight into U.S. History October 12, 2002

By Charlene Keys

Format:Hardcover

My Middle School Special Day Class students were captivated and intrigued by each story we read together. Used as an introduction to specific eras in our history, these eyewitness stories provoked the students to ask questions, seek further information, and dive into their history lessons. There is such a long waiting list to borrow this book that I can only allow students to take it home overnight. This was the best twenty dollars I have ever spent on a classroom resource!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow...This Is What You Call EXCITING History! May 18, 2002

By Allyn VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

When someone gave me this book as a sort of gift, I was kind of reluctant to read it. I mean, it looked like another one of those thick, boring biography collections that line the bookshelves in your social studies classroom. Was I ever wrong...I started reading this book, thinking I'd just read for a few minutes, and soon half an hour had gone by. Phillip Hoose has done a wonderful job of creating a book with dynamic young people throughout history that inspire us all. And he goes beyond telling about Phillis Wheatley...he tells about Anna Meyer, who played professional baseball during World War 2, John Tinker who boldly stood up for his rights to protest the Vietnam War, and the boys who played a crucial-yet-rarely-realized role as part of the crew on Columbus's voyage. So you think history's boring? Read this book and see it in a whole new light!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and exciting for kids! May 2, 2003

By Nicole Lasko

Format:Hardcover

I'm an eighth grade U.S. history teacher. I have used this book in my classroom, and the kids love it. It brings important events in history alive for the students. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about individual stories in history.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars We Were there,Too August 10, 2001

By Catherine

Format:Hardcover

What an exciting way to put a new spin on American History. A great teaching aide. It whets the appetite to learn more about each segment of History covered. Interesting reading for all ages.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Cool and Timely December 4, 2001

By Margaret Schneider

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

History can sometimes be a challenge for kids - hearing about people they don't and will never know, who lived in times that seem so unreal to them. No wonder they can't relate!

This book gives them real world examples of how kids are a part of history, too. It's a great perspective to jump start a kids interest in reading about History.

Recommended for 12 and older due to reading level.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Checking historical sources December 14, 2005

By Stephen C. Harvey

Format:Hardcover

I think Phillip Hoose's idea of portraying history through the eyes of children is great. However, his research could be alot better.

I got his book because a relative of mine, Ellwood Harvey MD, was actually involved in one of the stories that Mr. Hoose wrote about in the book, Maria Weems:Escape to Canada. It was Ellwood, not Dr. Howard, that took Ms. Weems from the White House to Philadelphia (and then onto NYC). While I can forgive this mistake, many sources have gotten it wrong, there are too many mistakes in this chapter that could have easily been checked. Hoose should have used William Still's famous book on the Underground Railroad (1873), it is in most libraries and currently in print.

First, the girl's name was Ann Maria Weems, not Maria Weems. She was rescued by Jacob Bigelow, not Charles Bigelow. Mr. Bigelow hid Ann in Washington DC in Sept. of 1855, not Oct., until Ellwood Harvey could come get her. Jacob was not a lawyer or a Quaker. He was often mentioned in Still's book as he was a major conductor on the UGRR and worked for the Washington Gas Light Company which used coal to produce their gas. Once the coal was unloaded Bigelow would hid escaping slaves on the boats leaving Washington DC.

Bigelow's interest in Ann originated with Harriet Beecher Stowe's request that he get involved in freeing the Weems. The family was well known amongst abolitionists, in England money was even raised to buy their freedom. Charles Price had bought the whole Weems family, except for the father who was a freeman, not just Ann. He then sold off Ann's three brothers. Bigelow bought Ann's mom and older sister to set them free, but Price would not sell Ann. That's when plans were made to rescue her....

The Powder Boy was the one of the captains of these boats. He had been responsible for getting the gunpowder onboard while in the navy. The nickname stuck. When the Powder Boy backed out of the plan to free Ann the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee offered then Ellwood $300 to fetch her. He was working as a professor at the Female Medical College in Philadelphia (the first school for female MDs). He used the $300 to buy the college's first dissection mannequin. While Ellwood had written a famous letter about witnessing a slave auction there is no proof that he was involved in the UGRR beyond the episode with Ann. Ann also used a second alias based on Ellwood's editor, E. W. Capron. This was used after "Joe Wright", Ann's first alias, had reached the free states.

Ellwood took Ann to not just Still's house, but also NYC. Amos Noe Freeman was the black reverend that took her the rest of the way to Canada.

Outside of the bits about Ellwood the rest of these facts are available to the public. With this many obvious errors one can only wonder how accurate the other chapters are in this book.

A wonderful idea like this book needs a little more time spent researching to provide the necessary factual accuracy. Read more ›