Category Archives: We Were There Too!

Duct Tape on My Book Spine

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With the right twang, that blog title could be a country western song.  We saw this great review of We Were There Too!: Young People in U.S History on Amazon and could not help belting it out.

“My copy has been read so often that the spine had to be taped. For years, every time I needed history to write about, I went to this book. 7th grade project to research a lesser-known Latino historical figure? Jessica Govea. 8th grade historical figure painting project? Harriet Hanson. A paper about the civil war with an original topic? Five pages on Dick King and Billy Bates. Wonderfully engaging.” –Amazon Review

What book have you had to tape back together?  My copy of Richard Scary’s What Do People Do All Day? has a length of duct tape running down its poor cracked spine from my childhood obsession.

Pilgrim Children Gave Parents “Great Greefe”

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“many of the [English children]…were drawn away by evil examples into extravagant and dangerous courses…to thee great greefe of their parents and dishonour of god.” –William Bradford

In celebration of Thanksgiving, author Phillip Hoose spoke to his local public radio station, MPBN, about the Pilgrim’s motivation to leave their adopted Holland because of their worry that their young people were on “extravagant and dangerous courses.”  Rebellious Pilgrim kids?? Not your common view of the holiday.

Listen here to Phil’s MPBN talk or revisit the “Saints and Strangers: Bound for Hope” chapter in Hoose’s We Were There Too: Young People in U.S. History.

Freedom Project

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Pleased that Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice and We Were There Too: Young People in U.S. History are included in the University of Delaware’s Freedom Project: Teaching American History program this year.  Phil Hoose will be speaking to educators there on July 26, 2011.

The goals of the TAH Freedom Project are (1) increased teacher knowledge of American history content and standards, (2) improved instruction in the area of American history, and (3) increased student achievement in the area of American history.  Fine goals, indeed.

They Played Baseball Too

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As spring training season arrives, I was pleased to speak with MPBN‘s Irwin Gratz about the two youngest pro baseball players ever.

Two 15-year-old baseball players –Joe Nuxhall and Anna Meyer–who got their professional start during World War II are among the young people featured in my book, We Were There Too: Young People in U.S. History.

Nuxhall was the youngest player in major league history and Meyer was the youngest player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League–immortalized in the movie A League of Their Own. You can listen here.

Places in the Heart: Celebrating Black History Month

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I thank School & Library Journal for asking me to choose my “favorite children’s book about the black experience” for their article “Places in the Heart: Celebrating Black History Month“.

This article is well worth a read to build your library with recommendations from authors: Sharon Draper, Russell Freedman, Nikki Grimes, Angela Johnson, Cynthia Kadohata, Julius Lester, Grace Lin, Pat Mora, Jim Murphy, Vaunda Nelson, Elizabeth Partridge, Mitali Perkins, Andrea Pinkney, Jerry Pinkney, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Anita Silvey, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Rita Williams-Garcia.

I selected Minds Stayed On Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Rural South: An Oral History (Westview Press) by the Youth of the Rural Organizing and Cultural Center.  Read why…