From: Nancy Silverrod <nsilverrod_at_sfpl.org>
Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:38:59 -0700

The book that stands out in my mind from childhood is The Pushcart War by Je an Merrill which deals with the conflict between pushcart peddlars and semi drivers. This is a class battle, but even more, a battle between local busin esses, big business, and a corrupt mayor. Children join in with the pushcart peddlars to bring truck traffic to a halt using peashooters with pins in th em to flatten tires all over the city.

I read this book in 1968, during the student riots in Ann Arbor, and I reall y took away the message that even kids can make a difference in fighting inj ustice. Of course, I took this quite literally, and fought back against an i nstance of "illegal search and seizure" when one of my classmates reported to the teacher that another classmate had a packet of contraband kool-aid in her desk. The girl with the kool-aid got in trouble, while the boy who had been poking around in her desk, didn't, I was furious and drafted a petition to fire the teacher. Almost everyone in the class signed it, but then they all had second thoughts and erased their names. I stormed home, punching the principal's daughter who tried to stop me on my way out, only to be brought back to school immediately by my mother, who saw my point, but made it clea r I couldn't just leave school in the middle of the day.

I'm still amused to remember this.

I also read most of Lois Lenski's books, books by Vera & Bill Cleaver, and l ots of historical fiction that did address class and justice issues - which were sometimes tied in with racial issues, and sometimes not.

Nancy Silverrod San Francisco Public Library 100 Larkin St. San Francisco, CA 94102-4733


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Received on Fri 04 Nov 2011 05:38:59 PM CDT