Dear Parents and Teachers The History Files series takes readers into significant eras in United States history allowing them to walk in the shoes of characters living in the periods they’ve learned about in the classroom From the journey to a new beginning on the Mayflower to the strife of the Vietnam War and beyond each title in this series delves into the experiences of diverse characters struggling with the conflicts of their time Each book includes a comprehensive summary of the era along with background information on the real people that the fictional characters mention or encounter in the novel Additional websites to visit and an interview with the author are also included In addition each title is supplemented with online teacher parent notes with ideas for incorporating the book into a lesson plan These notes include subject matter background information inspiration for maker space activities comprehension questions and additional online resources Notes are available at www RourkeEducationalMedia com We hope you enjoy the History Files books as much as we do Happy reading Rourke Educational Media 3
Table of Contents How Did I End Up in this Place 6 The Diary 14 A House of Cards 31 The Bottom Falls Out 43 Home Home on the Range 51 Can’t You Hear the Whistle Blowing 63 Brother Can You Spare Me a Dime 79 Happy Days are Here Again 86 5
Chapter One How Did I End Up in this Place The first thing Jenny Gold hated about her new bedroom was the color mustard It reminded her of throw-up sprinkled with amber dust The rest of the room appeared fairly normal beds a dresser and an old mahogany rocking chair The chair sat next to a small window and a medium-sized wooden box sat next to the chair Her mother’s fancy black and rose Chanel scarf adorned the top of the box And atop of the scarf-covered wooden box sat a kerosene lamp that Cora and Leo provided Jenny’s daddy kept a watchful eye on the room More exactly he looked out from inside his framed photograph that leaned against the mirror on the dresser Reuben’s comb Mother’s hairpins and Jenny’s brush lay atop a lace doily next to it Those particular items explain the second thing Jenny hated about 6
the room She shared it with her younger brother Reuben and their mother Most days Jenny’s feelings about moving to Leo and Cora’s farm rumbled and roared like a train speeding inside her body Sometimes she spat them out at Mother Otherwise her brain would get foggy It had been doing that since her old life in New York City collapsed Jenny stared out the small bedroom window at Reuben who hung from a branch in the lone tree that shaded the house Her mother had just turned up the dirt path to the barn her legs pumping the pedals of the bike Leo had given her for work Jenny rolled her eyes Mother had never worked before Or ridden a bike for that matter At least not that she could remember Mother leaned the bike against the tree and wiped the dust from her work pants In a flash Reuben dropped to the ground and Jenny jumped on the bed to stretch out No sense wasting an opportunity to show how tough her own day had been Once inside Mother placed the cloth bag 7
