When 2 Million Children Became Unemployed

Can’t get your kids to clean their room or take out the trash without grumbles galore? Maybe a session with this book will whip them into shape. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor is a biography of Hines disguised as a 20th century photo documentary of how two million American children, some as young as three, where spending their long, dreary, hazardous days. It’s in fact brimming with his amazing photos of kids in coal mines, canneries, cotton fields and factories. I guarantee your child will be fascinated!

When we first purused this book, my daughter was about seven and still asking for me to peel her boiled shrimp. Then we saw the photo on page 42 of little four-year-old Mary who shucked two pots of oysters a day! Well, I was quick to point out, “Shannon, if little Mary could shuck all those oysters, you are certainly capable of peeling a few shrimp!” And she did.

It is a little eerie seeing eleven-year-old boys tend a blazing hot furnace with no adult supervision, so it may be crazy for me to say, but I can’t help but sense some pride in the faces of some of these capable children. Could twelve hour days have been scaled back to five hour weeks in lieu of cutting work out of children’s lives all together? Clobber me if you will, I'm just wondering. My son is 14 this summer and had high hopes of making money working at a marina near our house, but because of the child labor laws, he can’t be considered for employment until he is 16. My boy grew up around boats and helped bring a boat from the Bahamas to Florida in rough seas when one of the two adults on board was laid up with a bad back. He's earned his boating license, has several hours of flying time and scuba dives. He is quite capable of fueling a vessel, tying a line and helping passengers get their supplies on and off boats...but now he has to wait two more years in order to be paid for it.

On another note, we have a fig tree in our yard. It produced vast quantities of figs this year. My eleven-year-old daughter and her friends scrambled for every opportunity they could get to pick the fruit...because they loved doing it. I’ve heard that Georgia farmers were having a hard time finding fruit pickers this year because the state has scared illegal immigrants away. Why aren’t high school and college kids stepping in to fill the void? I remember my father’s tales of picking apples in upstate New York when he was a kid looking for a buck.

Well, I think Kids at Work will be a great conversation starter at your house too. The book sums it up this way:  “Hine’s images of working children stirred America’s conscience and helped change the nation’s laws. With his box camera and his sympathetic eye, he made a dramatic difference in people’s lives. In a real sense, the face of America never looked the same again.”

Ages 6 and up
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Activity: For goodness sakes, learn how to peel your own shrimp:

Great Heights Week - The Empire State Building

During the depths of the Great Depression a majestic symbol of fortitude arose. And it rose high. In fact it was the world’s tallest building for over 40 years. Besides providing a nation with much needed jobs (seven million man hours!), it also provided much needed national pride. In Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building, big pictures and minimal text show the process: from the demolition of the pre-existing hotel to the arrival of the steel and then the methods involved in building the skyscraper. This is an excellent choice for children interested in construction.

Ages: 6-9
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Activity: Build your own Empire State Building with this project from papertoys.com

P.S. Older children working on research papers would be well-served to get their hands on two other titles I found. In Unbuilding, David Macauley masterfully illustrates the imagined demolition of the Empire State Building. A great way to learn how it was built, in reverse. And Empire State Building: When New York Reached for the Skies by Elizabeth Mann is chock full of interesting information.

Great Heights Week - Tallest Man

And I thought I stood out like a sore thumb in high school! (I’m 5'10"ish)

My children and I were captivated when we recently read about the tallest man ever in Jennifer Phillips’ book, Robert Wadlow: The Unique Life of the Boy Who Became the World’s Tallest Man. He was the size of an adult by age five and eventually grew to the incredible height of 8'11.1"! You’ll learn of the accommodations he had to make, that an overactive pituitary gland caused his condition and to see Robert, not as an oddity, but as a person—and a likable one at that. A discussion about fitting in with one’s peers would complement this story nicely.

Besides fascinating photographs, the author also includes a fact page, a timeline and thoughtful questions to explore as well as suggested activities.

Ages 9-12
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A review of Stand Straight Ella Kate caught my eye over at the Palnetsme Plan blog recently. This looks like a great choice for all of us tall girls.

Activity: Print out Robert Wadlow’s shoe print and compare it to your own foot size.

Someone Named Eva

When is a Czechoslovakian girl not a Czechoslovakian girl? When she is dragged from her family and placed in a German repatriation program where she is only allowed to speak German and is eventually adopted by a German family. Only in Someone Named Eva, Eva, real name Milada, makes the effort to always remember who she really is. And that someone is from Lidice, Czechoslovakia, where she was the fastest runner in school, loved to star gaze and ride bikes with her best friend, had a big brother, a baby sister, and a beloved grandmother, mother and father. She also had Aryan features, which is why the Germans snagged her.

But I didn't understand why the people of Lidice, Czechoslovakia were singled out by the Nazis until I read the Author’s Note. Resistance fighters made an attempt on Hitler’s favorite officer, Heydrich, also known as the “Butcher of Prague.” Nazi intelligence thought there was a connection between the village of Lidice and the resistance fighters (wrong) so they took revenge on it’s 500 inhabitants. The men and teenage boys were shot, the “acceptable” children where sent to the repatriation program and the rest of the children and women where sent to work camps. Then the Nazis razed the town, turning it into nothing but a field.

Shannon and I read this one together and enjoyed discussing it along the way. The constant theme throughout was to never forget who you are.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: I followed a link mentioned by the author to the Lidice Memorial. I noticed this museum on the site where the town of Lidice once stood is sponsoring an annual, international art contest for children ages 4-16. Get out your art supplies and send your entry by March 15, 2011.

Martin Luther King’s Speech

With Martin Luther King Day right around the corner, I was reminded of the “I Have a Dream” speech challenge I made available at this time last year. Then it dawned on me. I never even approached my own daughter about trying it. So I just printed it out for her and she did a pretty good job:

Even though she wasn’t 100% accurate, she nailed the gist of what he was saying. I especially love her use of the word “heart” in place of “character” in the last blank. There is a link to this fill-in-the-blank challenge at my old post.

P.S. The answers are at the link too :-)

Newbery News

The 2011 Newbery Medal winner and the four honor winners have been announced. Of special interest to me is the fact that the winner and three of the four honor books are historical fiction:

2011 Newbery Medal Winner

Moon Over Manifest

by Clare Vanderpool
Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

Ages 9-12



2011 Newbery Honors

Heart of a Samurai 
by Margi Preus
In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

Ages 12 and up

Manjiro’s life story is f a s c i n a t i n g. I reviewed another book about him here.

One Crazy Summer
By Rita Williams-Garcia

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Ages 9-12

I noticed over at The Fourth Musketeer that this author is so committed to literature for young people that she offers her own short story contest to encourage and reward young people's writing. Open to kids from 12-19, the winner receives a check for $100, a certificate, and a personal critique by Rita Williams-Garcia!

Turtle in Paradise
By Jennifer L. Holm

In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.

Ages 9-12

The other Newbery Honor book this year is Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman. It is a collection of twelve poems that celebrate the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark.

The Newberry Medal is awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children as decided by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. Given since 1922, it is named after John Newbery, an eighteenth-century English publisher of children’s books. It was the first children’s literary award in the world.

BEACH WEEK - D-Day

TITLE: Invasion: The Story of D-Day

AUTHOR: Bruce Bliven Jr.

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? Allied and German forces

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? Along a 50 mile stretch of coastline, in the Normandy area of France, on June 6, 1944, the greatest invasion in history was implemented by the allied armies.

WHAT HAPPENED?  Paratroopers were badly scattered on the ground, amphibious vehicles took on seawater faster than bilge pumps could empty them and rifles became clogged with sand. This was a day of tragedies that somehow turned into triumph. That triumph part may well be owed to a handful of infantry men that were very determined to break through the German lines. It's these accounts that make Invasion: The Story of D-Day so interesting. It's a great overview of the battle that changed the tide of World War II. 

Ages 12 and up
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Activity: Try this free online D-Day game.

BEACH WEEK - Surfer of the Century

TITLE: Surfer of the Century

AUTHOR: Ellie Crowe

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? Duke Kahanamohi, a beachboy turned Olympian.

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? Duke spent most of his time at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii perfecting his surfing and swimming in the early 20th century.

WHAT HAPPENED? When a local lawyer with an interest in swimming noticed how fast Duke cut through the water, he got involved in getting Duke into competitive races. Duke eventually won his first gold medal in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1912 Olympics. His interesting life included breaking many swimming records, along with some color barriers, a friendship with fellow Olympian and native American, Jim Thorpe and winning several Olympic medals for the U.S.A. team. He also developed the flutter kick, helped coach the Australian Olympic swim team, built his own surf boards, introduced surfing to Australia and the mainland of America, surfed for nearly two miles on a monster wave that was 30 feet high, acted in a couple of Hollywood movies, rescued eight people from a sinking boat via his surfboard, and served as sheriff of Honolulu. No wonder this guy is considered a legend!

Surfer of the Century is a beautifully illustrated tribute to Duke Kahanamohi.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: How fast can you swim the 100 meter freestyle? Duke’s fastest race time is recorded at 60.4 seconds. Can you beat that?

BEACH WEEK - First Flight

I've been so busy enjoying the beach and so many other fun activities this summer that my blogging has ebbed. To make up for it I’m offering a flood of history that has happened at the beach...

TITLE: Will and Orv

AUTHOR: Walter A. Schulz

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? This book details the day of the Wright Brother’s first flight through the eyes of Johnny Moore, a young Outer Banks native, who was, in fact, a witness to this historic event.

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? The Wright Brother’s chose Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to test their flying machines because the wind blew everyday, the sand made for a soft landing and there were no trees or rocks to run into. Their first successful flight occurred on December 17, 1903.

WHAT HAPPENED? Johnny had gotten to know the Wright Brothers over the three summers they had come to Kitty Hawk to test their flying machines. In 1903 they stayed beyond summer to test their big glider with a motor they called the “Flyer.” The author tells the story of this historical day from the perspective of Johnny, starting with him leaving his house in the morning and ending with him celebrating the first successful flight later that day.

Your child will gain knowledge about not only the motor and propellers, but also the relationship between the Wrights and the locals, who often helped them. This book also drives home the point that the Wright Brothers developed the first method to enable an engine powered aircraft to go up, down and turn all with the Wrights own hand-made parts. These and other details are offered in a nicely paced little story that was first published in 1991, but has the charming qualities of one from the 1950’s.

Ages 4-8
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Activity: If you have money to spare and lots of patience, make a replica of the Wright Brothers Plane with Legos. This set for collectors is selling for upwards of $200! Or, for more feasible fun, try this Wright Brothers coloring page from another post.

Bad News for Outlaws

Everything about Bass Reeves was big: his shoulders, his hands, his hat, his horse, his mustache and his reputation for being a sure shot. But the biggest thing about him was his character. Vaunda Micheaux Nelson does an exemplary job of introducing this Texas born slave turned free man who fought for justice. In Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal, she chronicles how Reeves went about outwitting outlaws from 1875 to 1907. In that time he brought in over 3,000 bad guys, sometimes as many as 17 at once! Sadly, his own son was one of those 3,000. The tone of the telling puts you in an old west frame of mind and the illustrations are as right as rain. It was fun to find this forgotten hero. 

Ages: 9-12

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Activity: You may be wondering, what do U.S. Marshals do? They apprehend more than half of all federal fugitives, protect the federal judiciary, operate the Witness Security Program, transport federal prisoners, conduct body searches, enforce court orders and Attorney General orders involving civil disturbances and acts of terrorism, execute civil and criminal processes, and seize property acquired by criminals through illegal activities. 

Are you interested in becoming a U. S Marshal like Bass Reeves? Today you would have to meet these qualifications: be a U.S. citizen between the ages of 21 and 36, have a bachelor’s degree or three years of qualifying experience, have a good driving record and valid driver's license, complete a structured interview, meet medical qualifications, undergo a rigorous 17 1/2 week basic training program and be in excellent physical condition. Here are links to the fitness standards for men and the fitness standards for women. Can you do 33 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and run a mile and a half in 12:18? If so, you may well be on your way to being a U. S. Marshall. You can look here for more information.

FIRST LADY WEEK - Ladybird Johnson

TITLE: Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America

AUTHOR: Kathi Appelt

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Claudia Alta Taylor whom we know as Lady Bird Johnson, was born in Karnack, in eastern Texas in 1912. Her nanny proclaimed one day, “She’s as purty as a ladybird,” and the name stuck. A ladybird is another name for a ladybug. She had an enchanted, well-to-do though isolated childhood. Her mother died when she was only five. An aunt came to help raise her, and it is she who inspired Lady Bird to appreciate nature's beauty. Lady Bird enrolled in the University of Texas in 1930, at a time when it was unusual for women to attend college, and earned a degree in journalism.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? While she was attending the university in Austin she met Lyndon Baines Johnson who was working as a congressional aid. He proposed on their first date.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She had two daughters, Lynda and Luci. She introduced them to gardening but worried about other children playing in concrete parks and having no connection to growing plants. When her husband became president she poured her energy into the Highway Beautification Act. Highway landscapes changed because of that law. Road signs and depreis were better managed and native wildfloweres were planted. Later, when she was seventy, she helped establish the National Wildflower Research Center.

Illustrations filled with rich and vivid colors compliment the copy. This would make a great gift for the child with an interest in flowers.

Ages 9-12

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Activity: Here’s a great mother’s day gift idea. Print out this seed packet template, color it, glue up the sides and fill it with seeds. Your mother will love it!

FIRST LADY WEEK: Eleanor Roosevelt

TITLE: Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery

AUTHOR: Russell Freedman

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the first child born to wealthy socialites in New York in 1884. Her father was President Teddy Roosevelt’s younger brother. Gawky and glum as a child, her mother died from diphtheria when she was only eight. Her dad, an alcoholic, died less than two years later. Eleanor and her younger brother were raised by her maternal grandmother, whose hands were already full with four unruly grown children.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? They first met at a gathering for children from prominent families. Eleanor was fourteen and feeling unattractive, unfashionable and generally miserable when Franklin, her fifth cousin, asked her to dance. Three years later they met again by chance on a train and continued to run into each other at various parties, including the New Year’s Eve soiree of the recently elected Teddy Roosevelt.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Eleanor had a busy life. She raised five children, was a teacher, and a delegate to the United Nations. Unique to her time and position, she earned her own money by writing columns, lecturing and broadcasting, usually topping the president's salary. She gave most of this income to charity. She thrived being among the suffering masses and bringing their plight into the spotlight.

This is a well told account of a very interesting and influential woman.

Awards: Newbery Honor Book

Ages: 9-12

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Activity: Here is an Eleanor Roosevelt crossword puzzle.

Learning to Read While Learning History

This is what I was reading in 1st grade:

Given the choice, I would rather have been reading this:

Today we are bombarded with more choices than ever, whether we are in the shoe store, on the car lot or in the cereal aisle. In my day everyone was wearing saddle shoes, driving station wagons, eating Wheaties for breakfast and, of course, learning to read with Dick and Jane. Well, happily, that whole variety of options thing has carried over to beginning readers! Step Into Reading offers a batch of entertaining and educational titles on five levels. Step 1: ready to read (preschool to kindergarten), Step 2: reading with help (preschool to 1st grade), Step 3: reading on your own (1st to 3rd grade), Step 4: reading paragraphs (2nd to 3rd grade), Step 5: reading chapters (2nd to 4th grade).

Step 3 is a collection of over seventy books about nature, action heroes, princesses, witches, folk tales and familiar characters like Arthur. And I'm drooling over all the history titles available at this beginning reader level. Here they are:

• Abe Lincoln's Hat
• Babe Ruth Saves Baseball!
• Barack Obama: Out of Many, One
• The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (my review)
• Christopher Columbus
• Dinosaur Days
• Eat My Dust! Henry Ford's First Race
• The First Thanksgiving
• George Washington and the General's Dog (my review)
• The Great Tulip Trade
• Johnny Appleseed: My Story
• Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President
• Listen Up!: Alexander Graham Bell’s Talking Machine
• Man O'War: Best Racehorse Ever
• The True Story of Pocahontas
  
• Paul Revere's Ride