Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest installment of the Young American Voices series, Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression, by Marissa Moss, covers the "Dirty Thirties." Set on a Kansas farm, Rose's pink-lined pages contrast with her handwritten account of dust storms and drought so severe that birds, lacking their usual materials, made nests of barbed wire. Captioned sketches and historical b&w photographs lend authenticity to this well-researched account. (Harcourt/Silver Whistle, $15 48p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-15-202423-9; Oct.)

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-In her first journal entry, Rose Samuels writes "good riddance" to 1934, and "I sure hope 1935 is a heap better." Unfortunately, it isn't. From month to month, she chronicles events on the family farm in Kansas as well as what is happening across the nation. The Bruno Hauptmann trial is in session, and Amelia Earhart has made her solo flight from Hawaii to California. Jack Benny and George Burns are favorites on the radio, but the Depression is so bad that hot cocoa and custard are foods Rose can only dream of enjoying. On the farm, nothing grows, and the cattle are so skinny that they have "washboard ribs." And there is always the dust. The Samuels come to the brink of losing their land, but at the last minute, they are saved from foreclosure. Moss has done a fine job in research, and there is quite a bit of historical information packed into this short book. However, some of the characters are undeveloped. The text is hand lettered and illustrated with colorful paintings and black-and-white archival photographs. For a child's-eye view of events in U.S. history, including the Depression, try Phillip Hoose's nonfiction title, We Were There, Too (Farrar, 2001). Jerry Stanley's Children of the Dust Bowl (Crown, 1992) is still one of the best titles chronicling the devastation brought by the dust storms and drought.

Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 56 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152024239
• ISBN-13: 978-0152024239
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,389,167 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and informative, April 16, 2002

By	ben scott (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

Rose's Journal is one of Marissa Moss' best books yet. It is both a vivid picture of the Depression era and a moving portrait of an individual child. Rose's relationships with her family, friends, farm animals and land are delicately, poignantly, and even humorously depicted. The narrator's soulful and childlike drawings leaven the serious text; her words are also enhanced visually with real photos of the time and drawings of her brother's comic strips. A humane, creative, refreshing and vivid way to present history to children.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Book, Recommend for Curriculum, February 7, 2006

By	Joan Lester "Author" (Berkeley, CA. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marissa Moss's Dustbowl story is one of the most compelling books I've ever read on the topic. I'm a literate adult, but was shocked at how much I DIDN"T know before I read this book. She packs Depression-era "facts" into a heartbreaking (and ultimately heartwarming) tale of a girl and her family, all rendered especially poignant with charming drawings that accompany the text. The whirling storms of dirt that cover everything with mounds of dirt ("we could tell where it came from by the color: gray dirt from Oklahoma; red dirt from Texas; brown was our own Kansas dirt") are brought to life with the evocative drawings, as well as the well-rounded characters. This book should be read by every child--and adult--in the country, as an essential part of U.S. history. I loved the book, was moved by it, and was sorry when it ended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars girl in a storm, March 23, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression (Paperback)

This book is about a girl who lives in a house and they live by a farm and all they have are horses and cows and chickens. She is in a big dust storm. They cannot keep anything growing so her mom and dad go out to a dancing contest to see if they can earn money for seeds. They come back without any money. So they join a last man standing club. This club is for people who are having hard times but will not abandon their town. I liked this book because it was based on a true story, and it was from a long time ago. The setting was set in the desert with lots of wind storms and also set during the Great Depression.