Me And Mother Jones, We've Got A Thing Going On

Until this spring, all I knew about Mother Jones was that it was the name of a magazine I'd never read and didn't know anything about, though I can tell you now that it does investigative journalism. Then this spring,  I was reading A People's History of the United States, and the author, Howard Zinn, starts in about "Mother Mary Jones, a seventy-five-year-old white-haired woman who was organizer for the United Mine Workers of America," I thought, Aha! That can't be a coincidence. And it wasn't. The magazine was, indeed, named for Mary Jones, known as "Mother" during her later activist years.

Stick With Me, Folks. There's A Mother Jones Childlit Connection Coming

A couple of months after reading A People's History, I'm reading the March/April issue of The Horn Book and what do I see but a review of Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children by Jonah Winter with illustrations by Nancy Carpenter! The book deals with an incident that appears in both the AFL-CIO bio of Jones and the Mother Jones magazine material about her in which Mother Jones organized child workers in a march from Philadephia to President Theodore Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, New York.

Two Points

• I love it when something new to me repeats in my life, the way Mother Jones did in the Zinn book and this picture book review. I'm sure I've written about this before here. And I'm guessing there is a word to describe this experience. Not deja vu, since that deals with the experience of feeling you've been somewhere before or lived an experience before. Perhaps the Germans have a word for this, since they are quite good at coming up with words for odd experiences.
• Though I have not read Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children, the set up for this book sounds like a classic way of introducing children to a historical figure we wouldn't necessarily expect them to connect with. The author finds something about the subject children should be attracted to, in this case, other children. That aspect of the book reminds me of Susanna Reich's Minette's Feast, in which child readers are introduced to Julia Child by way of her cat. 

 

Oh, And Since We're Discussing Introducing The Young To Adult Subjects...

 

A family member who is a middle school librarian brought  A Young People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn with Rebecca Stetoff  to my attention. It's a young adult edition of Zinn's original book. I would not say that this is the only history of the United States a young person, or anyone else, should read, but it certainly will give someone who already knows something about American history something to consider.

Picture Book Giveaway: Pete Seeger And Using Music To Promote Social Justice

The Giveaway

This month I'm giving away a copy of Stand Up and Sing! Pete Seeger, Folk Music, and the Path to Justice by Susanna Reich with illustrations by Adam Gustavson. You'll find instructions on how to enter to win at the end of this post. But first...

The Book

Susannah Reich has written a number of interesting nonfiction picture books that deal with individuals. They're either traditional biographies (Painting the Wild Frontier), creative nonfiction covering a little known aspect of a well-known figure's life (Minette's Feast), and even an account of a group of people in terms of the group members' relationship with one another (Fab Four Friends). This spring's Stand Up and Sing! Pete Seeger, Music, and the Path to Justice tells you exactly what the book is about in its title. It focuses specifically on folk singer Pete Seeger's use of music to bring attention to social problems during his own lifetime. The book covers Seeger's development as a singer and his interests in issues such as improved pay and conditions for workers and civil rights.

This is a picture book that will be of interest to adults as well as older children. Why?

• Stand Up and Sing! covers some of the movement for social justice in mid-twentieth century America.
• It also deals with music history. Hey, Seeger was a member of The Weavers. Wimoweh, folks. Who hasn't fantasized about being able to sing the Tokens' version of that song? Who hasn't humiliated themselves trying?  The Weavers' song list.
• For young writers (or new writers of any age) the book could also serve as a model of a certain type of biography, one that follows a specific thread in the subject's life.

Check out illustrator Adam Gustavson's blog post on illustrating Stand Up and Sing!

And Stand Up and Sing! Could Be Yours

For the rest of the month of April, readers may leave a comment to this post, which will enter them into the random drawing for a copy of Stand Up and Sing! The drawing will take place on Sunday, April 30.

I will need to notify the winner of the book. If the name next to your comment doesn't link back to a blog or site so I can find an e-mail, please either leave a way for me to reach you in your comment or check back here on April 30/May 1 to see the announcement of the winner. And contact me then, of course.

Good luck to everyone.

FTC Transparency Info:  I received a copy of this book from its publisher, Bloomsbury.

Today's Stop On The "Fab Four Friends" Blog Tour: Those Boys Could Work

 I may be the only blogger taking part in the Fab Four Friends blog tour who is not a major Beatles fan. I enjoy the music, respect the musicians, but never wanted to marry Paul. I was very taken with the Fab Four Friends: The Boys Who Became the Beatles by Susanna Reich with illustrations by Adam Gustavson, but not because I think the next generation absolutely must be exposed to these musicians. Instead, I liked Reich's portrayal of "the boys" training themselves to live a life with music.

Reich writes about John Lennon rehearsing in his mother's bathroom with some "mates." "...pounding out souped-up folk songs and some rock 'n' roll. They had no idea how to play, but they loved making noise--lots of noise!" He met Paul McCartney when Paul saw him playing at a church fair. John was impressed because Paul could tune a guitar correctly. The two of them got together "bashing away" on guitars. "Most of the time they tried to imitate the hard-driving songs on the radio." "If only they could figure out the chords!" George Harrison seems to have been better at working out those. "...he knew a lot of chords." When he came into the picture, he taught them to John and Paul.

Reich also covers the Hamburg (still pre-Ringo) period. To digress, just a little, Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers about the significance of Hamburg for the Beatles. The many hours of performing, he claims, contributed to the thousands of hours of practice he believes is necessary to become proficient at a skill. When they left Germany, Reich says, George was only seventeen years old. They had put in all that time and effort when they were still what most of us would consider kids.

Fab Four Friends is for young readers, and the title itself is all about youth. "Friends," is one of the biggest concerns of childhood. "Boys," is a state of childhood. What I like so much about this early Beatles' story is that it addresses how hard these guys worked while they were very young. Yes, they were still young when they became successful. But the success didn't come until after they'd worked. They didn't just toss up the 1960's version of a YouTube video and become international stars.

This picture book group bio is probably most appropriate for older gradeschoolers. However, I wonder if it wouldn't also be a good choice for reluctant readers on the middle school level.

Tomorrow's stop for the blog tour will be at Tales from the Rushmore Kid.  You can catch everything Fab Four here.

Correction: This post originally stated that both George and Paul left Germany because the authorities there found out they were under 18. Only George went back to England for that reason.

Blog Tour For "Fab Four Friends" Underway Now

I am going to be taking part in the blog tour for Fab Four Friends: The Boys Who Became the Beatles by Susanna Reich with illustrations  by Adam Gustavson. The tour starts today at Booktalking. The rest of the tour stops:

Tuesday, August 18 Shelf-Employed 

Wednesday, August 19 UnleashingReaders.com 

Thursday, August 20 Elizabeth Dulemba

Friday, August 21 Maurice on Books

Tuesday, August 25 Kidsbiographer's Blog

Wednesday, August 26 Original Content

Thursday, August 27 Tales from the Rushmore Kid 

Friday, August 28 Alphabet Soup