Synopses & Reviews
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 couldnand#8217;t attend because they had to go to work, schools that simply closed their doors. Even so, life had its bright spotsand#151;like favorite games and radio showsand#151;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.
Review
* "Balancing the stories of the Klan and the formerand#160;slaves' determination to remake their lives, Bartoletti makes extensive use of congressional testimony, interviews, journals, diaries and slave narratives to allow the players to speak in their own voices as much as possible...An exemplar of history writing and a must for libraries and classrooms."and#8212;
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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* "Bartoletti follows multi-award-winning titles such as Hitler Youth (2005) with another standout contribution to youth history shelves...It's the numerous first-person quotes, though, that give the book its beating heart, and her searing, expertly selected stories of people on all sides of the violent conflicts will give readers a larger understanding of the conditions that incubated theand#160;Klan's terrorism; how profoundly the freed people and their sympathizers suffered; and how the legacy of that fear, racism, and brutality runs through our own time."and#8212;Booklist, starred review
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* "Copious photos, engravings, and illustrations provide a hard-hitting graphic component to this illuminating book. And while Bartoletti notes that contemporary 'hate groups wield none of the power or prestige that the Ku Klux Klan held in earlier years,' her account of attending a Klan meeting while researching the book is chilling to the core." and#8212;Publishers Weekly,and#160;starred review
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* "As in Hitler Youth, Bartoletti tackles a tough, grim subject with firmness and sensitivity...Period illustrations throughout make seeing believing, and the appended civil rights timeline, bibliography, and source notes are an education in themselves. Exemplary in scholarship, interpretation, and presentation."and#8212;The Horn Book, starred review
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* "Bartoletti effectively targets teens with her engaging and informative account that presents a well-structured inside look at the KKK, societal forces that spawn hate/terrorist groups, and the research process."and#8212;School Library Journal, starred review
Review
"Delivers concrete data with which to create a sense of the times...enhanced by...Freedman's many comparisons." HORN BOOK Horn Book
"Stirring photo-essay...eloquent...[Freedman's] signature plainspoken prose...'convey[s] in human terms the true meaning of economic statistics.' BOOKLIST, starred Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"Another superb photo-essay by a veteran author. A wonderful, informed, and sympathetic overview...of this period." SLJ, starred School Library Journal, Starred
"Freedman captures the historical scope of young lives during the Great Depression...At once bleak and uplifting." -PW Publishers Weekly
"[A] magnificent volume...Freedman is a master of the photo-essay, and this is one of his best." -KIRKUS, starred Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Plenty of primary-source testimony...Freedman offers an account within the reach and interest of middle-schoolers." -BCCB Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Freedman does an exemplary job of making a disheartening and complicated subject...approachable and engaging...a fantastic resource." VOYA VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
Review
"Bartoletti humanizes the big events by bringing the readers up close to the lives of ordinary people." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
“Bartoletti incorporates period pen-and-ink sketches and poetry laying bare the fragility, injustice, and stratification of Irish peasant society. . . . Fascinating historical reading.” —School Library Journal, starred review School Library Journal, Starred
Review
"a fully realized portrait of a musical artist and her times...an outstanding, handsome biography. Freedman at his best." KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred reviews Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Freedman provides thrilling accounts...copious quotes...allow her resonant voice--and personal grace--to fill these pages...An engrossing biography." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review Publishers Weekly, Starred
"This inspiting work once again demonstrates Freedman's talent for showing how a person's life is molded by its historical and cultural context." SLJ School Library Journal, Starred
"In his signature prose, plain yet eloquent. Freedman tells Anderson's triumphant story . . . Older readers and adults will want this too." BOOKLIST Booklist, ALA
"Freedman offers the story of a movement encapsulated in the biography of an extraordinary African-American woman." BCCB Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"a masterful biography...The prose is sharp and clean with generous use of quotations...a superb choice." VOYA VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
Synopsis
Illustrated with archival photographs and drawings, this account reveals how this crushing evil was allowed to thrive.
Synopsis
Boys, let us get up a club. With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friendand#8217;s mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South. This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in Americaand#8217;s democracy. Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, this account from Newbery Honor-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a book to read and remember. A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist.
Synopsis
Hitler was a man many believe to be the personification of evil. This Sibert Medal-winning biography penetrates this façade and presents a picture of a complex person—at once a brilliant, influential politician and a deeply disturbed man.
Synopsis
* “The most complete and successful biography of the Führer available for this audience.”—SLJ, starred review Many people believe Hitler was the personification of evil. In this Sibert Medal–winning biography, James Cross Giblin penetrates this façade and presents a picture of a complex person—at once a brilliant, influential politician and a deeply disturbed man. Giblin explores the forces that shaped the man as well as the social conditions that furthered his rapid rise to power. Powerful archival images provide a haunting visual accompaniment to this clear and compelling account of a life that left an ineradicable mark on our world.
Synopsis
In 1845, a disaster struck Ireland. Overnight, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops, turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people.
Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland.
Black Potatoes is the compelling story of men, women, and children who defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds to eat, who walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs for meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and who committed crimes just to be sent to jail, where they were assured of a meal. Its the story of children and adults who suffered from starvation, disease, and the loss of family and friends, as well as those who died. Illustrated with black and white engravings, its also the story of the heroes among the Irish people and how they held on to hope.
Synopsis
"A voice like yours," celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini told contralto Marian Anderson, "is heard once in a hundred years." This insightful account of the great African American vocalist considers her life and musical career in the context of the history of civil rights in this country. Drawing on Anderson's own writings and other contemporary accounts, Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art despite the social constraints that limited the careers of black performers in the 1920s and 1930s. Though not a crusader or a spokesperson by nature, Marian Anderson came to stand for all black artists -- and for all Americans of color -- when, with the help of such prominent figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave her landmark 1939 performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which signaled the end of segregation in the arts. Carefully researched, expertly told, and profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs, this Newbery Honor and Sibert Medal-winning book is a moving account of the life of a talented and determined artist who left her mark on musical and social history. Through her story, Newbery Medal-winning author Russell Freedman, one of today's leading authors of nonfiction for young readers, illuminates the social and political climate of the day and an important chapter in American history. Notes, bibliography, discography, index.
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.