Growing up in the Great Depression

School Library Journal

Gr 5-7-Wormser documents the history of the Great Depression by approaching it topically and through the eyes of the people who were young during that era. He describes the causes of the economic disaster, and then traces its impact on children and adolescents who represent a wide range of American life: hoboes, farmers, migrant workers, laborers, union organizers, and African Americans. In many cases, the narratives are culled from interviews that the author conducted as well as from archival letters written to the Roosevelts. Several offer the perspectives of unknown Americans, while others are from the writings and memories of personalities such as Gordon Parks. Black-and-white photos, most of which need no caption to tell their haunting stories, are included. For a chronicle of the entire range of Depression-era events and govenment programs, turn to Gail B. Stewart's The New Deal (Macmillan, 1993) or R. Conrad Stein's The Great Depression (Childrens, 1993) for younger readers. Milton Meltzer's Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (Facts on File, 1990) is more extensive in that it covers the writings and reminiscences of both adults and young people from 1929-1933. With Wormser's help, readers will gain a knowledge of and appreciation for the experiences of the children of the '30s.-Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library, WI

Hazel Rochman

Drawing on interviews, letters, personal accounts, and black-and-white photographs, Wormser creates a vividly detailed narrative of what it was like to be young in the U.S. during the Great Depression. The individual voices, of children at the time and of adults looking back, bring immediacy to the history of how families lost their land, their jobs, and often their hopes. Wormser gives special attention to such topics as children at work, the plight of blacks, the labor movement, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, and one chapter about kids on the road draws on his book "Hoboes". The many photographs are powerful testimony, but unfortunately there is no acknowledgment of who took the pictures or where they came from. Each chapter begins with a page of text imposed on a blurry photo, which looks good from a distance but is hard to read. Bibliography.