a little too simplistic, but good, These children's books are addictive! I really like how they show pictures of the times that the book takes place at the end and talk about life in America at that time or more specifically, what life was like for that city, etc.
It makes the book, though fictional, seem much more real,
I didn't know much about New York in, and seeing it from a poor "newsies" perspective was interesting, Newsies Finn, Racetrack and Mush hawk newspapers on the streets of New York City, Finn wants to be a journalist, but doesnt like his teacher who rules the class with an iron fist, The publishers raise the price of the newspapers sold to the newsies, The boys go out on strike, but now theres no money to be made,
it's been overyrs since I have read this one but it was a good book describing what went on in the authors eyes, This book was a wonderful read but the description doesn't match the plot of the book, Finn's father doesn't die and he has three sisters! This book is a really great read! sitelink blogspot. com/ When his father dies, Finn Reardon must support his family by selling newspapers on the streets of Manhattan, where he finds himself in the middle of the Newsie Strike of.
When Finn Reardon's father dies, he decides to support his mother and eight siblings by peddling newspapers on the streets corners of New York City, But when the two biggest newspaper publishers, Hearst and Pulitzer, raise the wholesale price that Finn and his friends pay for the papers they sell, the boys band together and go on strike.
Susan Campbell Bartoletti brings humor and wit to this classic David and Goliath struggle between the Newsies and the newspaper publishers, A review from my old blog, . .
The Journal of Finn Reardon is the story of a young newsie who manages to rise above all of the hardships of a life in the Five Points of New York City to become a college graduate and successful newspaper reporter.
While the fact that Finn was successful is a little hard to believe the rest of the story was very fun to read including a grandfather figure that made me laugh out loud a couple of times.
Thirteenyearold Finn Reardon is counting down the days until he can quit school and start working full time to help support his family, His Pop can't manage to hold a job and his older sister barely brings in enough to help support the family, Then tragedy strikes and it looks like they will end up on the street, But Finn's smart eye for detail earns him the respect of one of the reporters during a newspaper strike and he convinces Finn that the best way to success in the business is to stay in school.
Its gotten me really interested in the NYC at the turn of theth Century, How awful it must 've been to be of the working poor back then living in a tenement with pennies for wages, and no laws about working conditions.
But it was necessary for those people to go thru that bc we wouild not have the labor laws we have if it weren't for all those poor people.
The Journal of Finn Reardon is about naturally a boy named Finn Reardon, who is working as a Newsie in turnofthecentury New York, His family works night and day to make rent and save for a "someday home" so they can move out of their dingy apartment flat, while Finn attends school and hawks newspapers to help out.
This was my first "My Name is America" read, and I felt that it was just all right, It's more of a slice of life narrative than anything, and I was a little disappointed that the main focus of the book was on some more mundane events and not the Newsies Strike, which would have been more interesting.
Still, a nice addition to the Scholastic Diary books and something interesting to read in an afternoon, Well the book was interesting and I liked it, It was very confusing but I understood it, Finn Reardon is a strong character in the book, I really enjoyed the book and I would recommend this book to everyone, I love Dear America and I love the movie Newsies so this was a great combination for me, It's a solid story with nice details, I have always been a fan of the Dear America series since I was younger, The stories are wonderful introductions into different events in history,
I picked up this book from the library after seeing Newsies on Broadway because I wanted to learn more about the newsboys,
The journal is of Finn, ayearold newsboy in New York City during the time of the Newsboy's Strike, It is a very simple read, I finished it in less than a day,
There were so many things I loved about this book, Bartoletti incorporates more about life in the lateth century, The reader learns about housing, schooling, and what children did for fun, I also loved that true newsboys, such as Racetrack, were prominent characters in the story, I knew them from the musical and now I got to see them in a new light,
My only complaint with this book is the strike scenes, The strike only took up a few pages of the story, I wanted to read more about the strike, which was the reason I picked up the book in the first place, I wished the author could have lengthened the journal entries instead of brushing over the events, When one sees a book about a newsie in, he or she probably expects the strike to play a prominent role, Although the strike scenes were lacking, the explanations of other aspects of life made up for it in some ways, I thought this was a very good book, I really enjoyed reading it, I loved the plot and the characters of the story, I thought Finn was such a great main character, Ever since I watched Disney's"Newsie" I had
been on the hunt in finding out everything I could about them and when I saw this at the library I just had to pick it up and read it.
Not my favorite book in the series, but still worth the read, for sure, I did enjoy it and I'm glad I read it, even if I didn't connect with Finn as well as I would have liked, It's still a great book, just not for me,.out ofstars. I would still recommend it! Really enjoyed reading this book! It's not one I would read again, but I'm not the intended audience, However, I only gave it three because I also wouldn't recommend it to my nieces/nephews,
The author writes vividly and makes the setting/story seem very real, I was strongly reminded of the movie "Newsies," in fact, NOTE: This is not a reflection on the book, but on the summary provided on the Goodreads website, There are parts of the summary that are not accurate, Finn does not have eight siblings he has three sisters, Also, his father does not die and that is not his motivation for becoming a newsie, I point this out only to give future readers a better "back of the book" summary,
I admit to binge reading Dear America and My name is America novels to help me finish my goal for this year I've gotsome to go.
But I will admit that they are addicting even for adults, I also admit that I love the movie Newsies and that may influenced my decision to read this one, I've always been fascinated by this period of history and tenement life maybe because it makes mybedroom apartment seem pretty luxurious, This book also features characters that are very colorful and more interesting than some of the other My Name is America book, I especially loved his mother and grandfather, As per usual, this book features plenty of historical details that makes it fascinating and realistic, I thoroughly enjoyed this one! I found myself cracking up over the antics of Finn and his friends and though the circumstances of Finn's life weren't as inherently exciting as other historical time periods covered in this series like a war diary, etc.
, I found his little corner of American history fascinating! I'm officially a fan of Bartoletti, This is the third book of hers I've read, and my second favorite, .