I'm going to start off by saying, I really, really, really wish this book had a free teaching guide to go along with it! It would be an excellent option for teaching the Great Depression, but lack of any free teaching materials that can be adapted for lesson plans necessitated that I not review this as a teaching resource.
What I loved about this non-fiction book were little things, like how in the Prologue it ends with the simple statement of how the Great Depression extended into a decade: "A nation of consumers became a nation of savers. Commerce screeched to a halt." It's a hard concept for students to grasp, how banks grow money by lending, and what happens when the money supply constricts. (For a great classroom simulation that allows students to experience this concept, see the "Money Mania" and "Bank Run" lesson plans in my Great Depression: Economics and Literature teaching post.)
The picture on page 42 is priceless, as are all the photographs (with credits!) by Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein from the Dust Bowl for the Farm Security Administration. They're used in many texts about this time period.
The writing is light, easy to read and comprehend, and the book covers most of the salient points of the time period, including the pressure to kick out Mexicans through "voluntary repatriation" which was often anything other than voluntary, something that is sometimes totally overlooked in books about this time period.
A fantastic read, sure to capture reluctant readers with its style and generous incorporation of visual images from the time period.
Teachers Note:
If you're interested in teaching the Great Depression, and the economic factors that played into what was possibly America's most crushing economic era, please take a look at my unit, Great Depression: Economics and Literature.
This unit doesn't get a lot of downloads, because I think most (many?) teachers are afraid of economics, in general. Don't be! Have fun learning with your students. And I make that easy: I offer several lesson plans for classroom simulations that my 8th graders simply ate up! You do need to print or have handy a fair amount of "play" money. I printed and laminated my own, but you can find Monopoly money at second-hand stores and use that. Do what's easiest and cost-effective for you and your classroom.
But the kids really loved these econ sims!
The LPs include an international trade simulation, an inflation auction, a simulation that demonstrates the role banks play in creating the money supply, and a bank run. I also recommend the classic verse book by Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust, and offer teaching resources for it, as well.
