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Aug 30, 2015lissagilliam rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I love this book. It is written like a work of fiction, with vivid scenes, interesting word choices, and varied sentence structures. More importantly, it tells an American history my students can connect to--the histories of women, children, minorities, the working poor, and groups often underrepresented in traditional history textbooks. What's more, it discusses what these historically oppressed groups have done to change their plight--it treats them like living, breathing characters instead of voiceless victims. This has been inspiring for the students I work with, who represent these groups and face many challenges in their home lives. The Young People's version is written at a much lower reading level than the classic adult version, so it's been an indispensable resource for struggling readers at the school where I teach. I have assigned articles from this book along with articles from other sources about the same event in history--this is a great analysis activity for comparing perspectives, text structures, identifying bias, etc.