Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman

Freedman, R. (2005). Children of the great depression. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
(2 books)

Summary:
This is a story of how the great depression affected the children in the United States. The book described the struggle that families went through during this time and the effect that it had on the children. So many students had to drop out of school to try and find work, the school year was shortened by almost half in some places, and some children could not attend school during winter because they did not have the warm clothes necessary to make the walk to their school. Families had to sell off their possessions and move into little shacks that had no running water, air condition, or heat.

Ages:
Grades 4th through 8th

Credibility of Author:
Russell Freedman read many books and memoirs related to the Great Depression before attempting to write this book.

National Standards that this book relates to:
Culture, Time, Continuity, and Change

Access Features:
Chapter notes, selected bibliography, and table of contents

Description of the Illustrations:
This book uses photographs that were taken during the Great Depression by photographers that were employed by the United States Farm Security Administration. Their job was to roam the US and document, by film, the reality of the Great Depression and how the government programs that were trying to help people were working.

Awards:
2005 Golden Kite Award
2006 Orbis Pictus Award
2005 ALA Notable Book for Children
2005 New York Public Library, 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
2006 NYPL Books for the Teen Age List
2005 Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books
2006 Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year
2005 Booklist Editors' Choice
2005 Booklinks Lasting Connections Selection

Related Texts:
Liad, K. (2002). Potato. New York, NY: National Geographic for Kids.
Stanley, J. (1993). Children of the Dust Bowl. New York, NY: Crown Books for Young Readers.

My response to the book:
I thought that this was a book that was well written and did a good job of describing the effects that the Great Depression had on children. I had never thought about the children not being able to go to school because f this catastrophe. It was amazing how little people were able to live off of and still stay strong and work together. At the end of the book it described some of the professions that children of the Great depression were involved in now and the included doctors, lawyers, research scientists and engineers.

How I would use this book in my class:
I do not think that I would use the book in its entirety in my classroom because my children are so young, but they would definitely enjoy perusing the photographs in the book and discussing a little of what went on during that time.

This book is 118 pages and is divided into eight chapters.