Annotated Bibliography

My content area is Business and I will be teaching a unit on The Great Depression to 8th grade students. To supplement and enrich this unit, I will be incorporating three trade books and two websites. At the completion of this unit it is my hope that the students will not only have an academic understanding of the causes that led to the Great Depression and its historic implications but also a profound grasp of what the Great Depression meant to the lives of the average Americans that lived through this bleak period of our history.

The class text book does an excellent job of explaining the technical aspects that caused the Great Depression and the policies that were put in place in effort to catapult the country into recovery and it will be used for these purposes. In order to provide my students with an appreciation of how the Great Depression manifested itself in the lives of everyday citizens, I felt it necessary to provide supplemental resources. Below you will find each of the texts that I have chosen to augment my students learning of this unit. They each give realistic glimpses into the lives of those who experienced this time first hand. Each of the texts is at or below grade level and therefore will provide an easy read for students of all levels.

 

Trade Books

Children of the Great Depression

“Children of the Great Depression” was a very enjoyable and informative book to read. The book is a combination of photos and firsthand accounts of the perspectives of people who lived through the Great Depression as children. The stories include the poignant details of children having to see their parents swallow their pride as worsening economic conditions made it impossible to provide even basic necessities. The book also illustrates what the Depression meant to young school children in agricultural communities among many other similar accounts.

In teaching a unit of study on The Great Depression, the book “Children of the Great Depression” would be an invaluable supplement. While text books do a good of explaining the causes and statistical economic impact of the Great depression, books such as this can bring life to the people who struggled through this time. Students can gain a real grasp of what it meant to be a child during this era. I think the book itself does an excellent job of stating its usefulness as a supplement with the phrase, the “photographs convey in human terms the true meaning of economic statistics”.

Freedman, Russell. (2010). Children of the Great Depression.  New York: Clarion. Amazon link     Barnes & Noble

Peanut Butter for Cupcakes: A True Story from the Great Depression 

Peanut Butter for Cupcakes is the true account of one family’s experience of living through the Great Depression.  The Nordmark family suffers the tragic death of their mother, their father’s struggle to support his children because of the lack of work during this difficult period and the resulting separation of the family on multiple occasions to foster care. As heartbreaking as this story is at times, it is equally uplifting as the family seems to find a way to take joy in the simplest of things and smile through most of the rough times.  The author, Donna Nordmark Aviles, presents the reader with an authentic story which depicts what life was really like during the Great Depression.

Peanut Butter for Cupcakes would be an excellent augmentation to a traditional text book for teaching a unit on the Great Depression. While text book’s provide students with an excellent understanding of the “why’s, how’s and who’s” of historical events books like Peanut Butter for Cupcakes provide meaning in human terms to these events. By reading this book, students will be left with a deep and true understanding of what the Great Depression meant to the families and children of that era. Within this context students will gain added meaning when learning the academic facts of the Great Depression.

                                                      

                   

Nordmark Aviles, Donna.  (2008).  Peanut Butter for Cupcakes: A True Story of the Great Depression.  Kentucky:  Wasteland Press.  Amazon link  Barnes & Noble

Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930’s

Author Michael L. Cooper does an excellent job of outlining the causes, realities and resulting consequences of the Dust Bowl in his book, Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930’s. Through illustrations and personal accounts the book made it easy for me to understand what it was like to live through the dust storms and appreciate the desperation that confronted families as they had to make the decision to abandon their lives and head to an uncertain future in California in search of survival. Once in California, their difficulties would not end. Working as migrant farmers (Okie’s to the locals) was a brutal existence but still better than what they left.  Workers would be exposed to ugly side of human nature as they native Californians looked at them with scorn offering know empathy for the circumstances that led to the plight of the “Okies”.  

In an educational context, “Dust to Eat” would be of great value to students by putting a human face on academic learning about the Great Depression. After reading this book, students would see and feel what it was like to be a child living through this era. Reading about that the ecological causes of the Dust Bowl and/or the policy decisions and economic circumstances that precipitated the Great Depression only tells half the story.                                                                   

                                                          

Cooper, Michael, L.  (2004).  Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930's.  New York:  Clarion.
Amazon link  Barnes & Noble


Websites 

Digital History. Explorations: Children & the Great Depression

This website is another resource that adds perspective to exactly what it meant to live during the Great Depression. It includes firsthand accounts from people of various ages. It includes the stories of regular people as well as those that would live acclaimed lives. There are also links to letters from children of the time asking for help from the president. These poignant letters should be relatable to students of varying age.

The above texts offer students multiple stories and information provided from a variety of media that will present the students with access to the information that will allow them to have a complete knowledge of the Great Depression from both an academic standpoint as well as what the event meant in the lives of real people.

Digital History. Explorations: Children & the Great Depression. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/children_depression/depression_children_menu.cfm

Great Depression

The website, Great Depression, provides multiple links to content on seemingly every aspect of the Great Depression including photographs, life in the 1930’s, culture and the causes of the Great Depression among many others.  This site would allow students to select topics of particular interest to deepen their understanding of the Depression from varying perspectives.  

With its variety of information students can benefit greatly by using this site as Great Depression offers students the autonomy to explore areas of need. I feel this site would be extremely useful to students studying the Great Depression.

Great Depression.  Retrieved from http://www.tms.riverview.wednet.edu/lrc/great%20depression.htm