Bayard, Louis. Lucky Strikes.

Bayard, Louis.  Lucky Strikes.  Macmillan/Henry Holt  2016  313p  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-62779-390-2         ms       Realistic fiction  VG-BN     

In 1929, during the Great Depression, Amelia and her younger brother and sister suffer a heart-wrenching loss when their mother passes away unexpectedly. But Amelia is a very resourceful young girl. Somehow the three siblings must come up with a way to stay together. Amelia’s idea is to talk a hobo who dropped off a passing truck into posing as their long-lost father. Together they run the small local gas station and try to eke out a living.

The so-called hobo turns out to be an asset when Amelia starts dreaming up marketing ideas for ensuring the survival of the gas station. It is not easy, because a local businessman owns all of the other stations in the area, and he wants theirs because it is on a heavily accessed trucking route. The novel provides readers with insight into the fears and tensions of being an orphan and presents Amelia as a strong and resourceful young girl.
    

Summary: Amelia, the big sister, must find a way to keep her brother and sister out of foster care after their mother dies unexpectedly. Readers will enjoy the family interactions and the dynamics of running a gas station while fighting a local bully.          

Poverty-Fiction, Family life-Fiction, Orphans-Fiction, Great Depression-Fiction          —Linda McNeil

Rosenthal, Betsy R. Looking For Me.

Rosenthal, Betsy R.  Looking For Me.       Houghton Mifflin                172p      $15.99   978-0-547-61084-9         2012      ms/hs  E-BN       Realistic fiction                                  

The story of Edith Paul’s life is told in this lovely free-verse novel of Depression-era Baltimore.  Beautifully written, the book spans a year in her life from the end of a summer through the culmination of her sixth-grade school year, including the special events, both happy and tragic, that will mold her character.  The fourth of twelve children, Edith is never quite sure how she fits into her family’s dynamics.  When her teacher assigns a poem about family, she realizes that she truly doesn’t know who she is.  Is she the “good little mother” or her father’s “diner slave”?  She realizes for the first time that she craves recognition as an individual.  It will be the first step in Edith’s emotional discovery of herself.   With the love of her large extended family and the help of her understanding teacher, Edith grows and matures into a strong and vibrant person.

Rosenthal based this book on memories of her mother and her large family.  She ends  with an epilogue that describes Edith’s actual future where she becomes the only girl in the family to graduate from college, a glossary of Yiddish words, and a collection of family photographs.  This is a wonderful addition to collections that describe the search for the American dream.

Family stories, Families-Fiction, The Great Depression-Fiction   -–Susan Ogintz