We can all learn from history. I believe it is particularly important to show our children history, especially their family history, to help them understand who they are and where they came from.
My books are all based on history of our family. So I write not just for my children and grandchildren but for all families who have similar backgrounds.
My recent children’s book “Strawberries of the Road” is based on a true story. It is set during the Great Depression.
My parents both lived through and remember the Great Depression, which lasted from August 1929 to March 1933. They were the same age, seven years old, when it began and eleven years old when it ended.
Even though they lived at the same time, they had totally different childhood experiences.
My mother grew up on a dairy farm with extended family in northern Illinois. They lived in a big farmhouse with several bedrooms and two kitchens. The dairy was a thriving business. On their farm, they raised cows and delivered milk, cream, and butter to the whole town.
The lack of technology back then would boggle the mind of today’s kids. At night, they would pull the battery out of the farm truck and take it in the house to power up the only radio. This was so the family could gather around and listen to a radio show!
When the Depression hit, they lost everything: the farm, the cows, the farm equipment, the house, and yes, even the radio.
At the same exact time, my father lived in a small town in mining country in West Virginia. Coal was king. Everyone still needed fuel, and coal was the major fuel.
My grandfather had a shoe repair shop. In that part of the country, the main jobs were logging, timber, and mining. All the workers for those jobs wore boots. When their boots wore out, they took them to be repaired. So a shoe repair shop was a thriving business.
On any given Saturday night, as payday was Saturday, my father, who worked in his dad’s shoe repair shop, would get flipped (paid) a five-dollar gold piece just for a shoeshine!
My book is set in West Virginia, but the family in the book had a similar story to the farm in Illinois. The father of the family is killed in a mining accident, and the family suffers, perseveres, and comes out on top.
During the Great Depression, there were no food banks. Welfare, food stamps, and social security weren’t around to help people out. All folks had was each other.
This is so relevant to a lot going on today. Even though we have more safety nets in place, many families are falling on hard times.
“Strawberries of the Road” is a fantastic feel-good story about a piece of history. I hope readers enjoy it and come away with a sense of hope.
Amazon Link – Strawberries of the Road
