A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk: A Boy's View of the Great Depression (Shawnee Books)

Rating:
Summary: A chronicle of what was good in the Depression
Review: The author was a young boy in Southern Illinois during the Depression and this is a chronicle of those years. It is not a tale of sadness, but of community and extreme frugality. At that time, the spending of each nickel was an event to be pondered deeply, so much of the text deals with "small" purchases. The title is derived from when it was possible to take a bucket of any size and have it filled to the brim with skim milk for a nickel.
At that time, many people, including the author's parents, did not have steady jobs, but worked on a day-to-day piecemeal basis. Most of their income was made a nickel and a dime at a time, so the author describes his father, and himself doing many odd jobs for small wages. Despite these hardships, this is a tale of a boy and a family who was together and enjoyed each other and life. There was a lot of work to be done, but there was also a lot of together time, much of it with family and neighbors.
Some of the people that I know talk somewhat nostalgically about the Depression years. Yes, they have no fond memories of the hardships, but they have many concerning the sense of community that existed, both inside and between families. This is a chronicle that those people would understand and appreciate. By reading it, those who did not experience it can learn to understand it.

Rating:
Summary: Hastings Makes Hisotry Come Alive!
Review: When reading a Nickels' Worth of Skim Milk, I am transported in time and place into the ordinary life of a small boy. It teaches the complexities of an entire generation. I have given each of my three daughters copies of the book when they were in their young teens. It teaches what life was like during their granparents times and how that has influenced our lives. In a time of society's preoccupation with posessions and greed, this book brings us back to a simplier time when blessings were counted more often.

Rating:
Summary: Hastings Makes Hisotry Come Alive!
Review: When reading a Nickels' Worth of Skim Milk, I am transported in time and place into the ordinary life of a small boy. It teaches the complexities of an entire generation. I have given each of my three daughters copies of the book when they were in their young teens. It teaches what life was like during their granparents times and how that has influenced our lives. In a time of society's preoccupation with posessions and greed, this book brings us back to a simplier time when blessings were counted more often.