Penny Colman

This book was very interesting to read because I had never heard of Fannie Lou Hamer before. She was one of the cofounders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She spoke publicly for the first time at the Democratic Convention in 1964. She spoke out about how horrifically black people were treated if they tried to vote. She gave her testimony about how she had been arrested and beaten. She fought for black people to be able to vote, to run for office, and to end segregation. Fannie Lou later led powerful civil rights movement songs. She ran for Congress, was a delegate from the Mississippi Loyalist Democratic party, and was a member of the Democratic National Committee. She also started the Freedom Farm Cooperative. She accomplished many incredible, historical things although she faced adversity such as being black, female, and poor in the 1960s-1970s. As the reader, I was inspired and enjoyed how I could truly hear her voice within the book.… (mais)

I might be slightly biased since I am coming off another book that tells the same story (in my opinion) rather poorly, but I feel Penny Coleman's version of the tale of Mary Harris Jones is an effective, historical, and engaging perspective on an important story in American labor rights history. Unlike "On the Way to Oyster Bay," this story is a specialized, narrative-driven, bibliographical story book for kids that tells the entire story of Mary Harris Jones from her humble beginnings in Ireland to her tragic past in Memphis and her eventual engagement with the labor rights movement.
Probably the most effective difference between this and "On the Way to Oyster Bay" is the shift in perspective and the resulting shift in tone. This book is told from the third person perspective with a narrative focus on Mary Harris Jones and her life leading up to the famous march. This results in a much more sympathetic, emotional, and full picture of the character where you see why she became who she did and why she would feel especially compelled to help and defend children. The other book's first person perspective from the point of view of one of the children ultimately ends up with an incomplete picture and a rather patronizing tone to the writing.
Structurally, I think the context of the labor conditions in the period and regarding Mother Jones's life up to this point is essential for understanding the motivations that led to this march. This is accented by wonderful choices of art, pictures, propaganda, and satirical art that that figuratively paint the mood and mindsets of the time. All of this is very essential for the book's informative tone to not come off as patronizing or biased.
I understand that you must always consider your audience when writing a book, and both this book and "On the Way to Oyster Bay" are aimed at very young children. The big difference between these two books is that this one chooses to show the human struggle and the cruelty of the working conditions that led to children marching with Mother Jones. The other book just treats the march as a quaint little holiday trek. Even for a story intended for children, I find that a little insulting. This book might be getting a little bit of bump from favorable comparison, but I still think Penny Coleman has made a great history book for children. The author's notes are informative, the index is useful, and she lists her sources and places people can go to find out more information. All of this makes for a much more compelling reading experience in my book.… (mais)

This is a very informative book about her march to Oyster Bay from Philadelphia, a journey of approximately 125 miles, by herself and several dozen children to petition President Theodore Roosevelt to do something about the horrid child labor conditions in America at that time.
Penny Colman has written extensively in the Non Fiction genre and is well educated ( M.A.T. from Johns Hopkins) so, I believe she is a very reliable source in matters of women's history. This book is a photographic essay on the aforementioned event. It is compelling. The photos are very telling and relate to the text very well. I LOVE that she is portrayed as a "Hell Raiser!" This book gives a feel for not only the woman but, the times in which she lived. It's only short coming is the lack of photographic evidence to support the march itself. Well, not a lack but a sort of anemia. Other than that, this book is perfect for what it seeks to do which, I believe, is to illustrate to a young reader the child labor conditions in textile mills at the turn of the 20th century.
I highly recommend this book to any teacher covering this period or as inclusion for women's history or the subject of child labor. It illustrates, poignantly, the price for our industrial success.
Accessibility is good for a book this size in that it offers a section for readers to find out more about Mother Jones and the index stands up to the "can I find it" test scoring a perfect 4/4 for me.
SUPPLEMENT:
A good FICTION book to pair this with which covers the period (1843-1846) immediately before this, but is during the life of Mother Jones is "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson.

Another Fiction book to pair this with for young readers if you do not have as much time, is "The Bobbin Girl" by Emily Arlnold McCully.
Both of these are good examples of historical fiction that… (mais)

Mother Jones and the March of the Mill Children is an informative, earnest, and ultimately disappointing children's biography of one of the most fearless labor reformers of the early 20th century. Author Penny Colman capably documents Jones's activism and paints an accurate portrait of life in the mills, coal mines, and railroad yards of turn-of-the-century America, but often gets bogged down in factual minutiae at the expense of perspective.

Colman follows Mary Harris "Mother" Jones from her early years as a teacher and seamstress through her involvement with the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers as they agitated for safer working conditions, shorter hours, and a living wage. Jones even went undercover (in a manner of speaking) in an Alabama cotton mill, where she witnessed firsthand the deplorable conditions suffered by the workers, many of whom were children as young as six. She began to focus her efforts on these young laborers, who worked up to 14 hours a day, earned a few dollars a week, and were often injured and even maimed on the job.

A fiery public speaker and tireless organizer, Jones gained attention for her demonstrations with striking mill workers and in 1903 led a highly publicized march of child laborers from Philadelphia to President Theodore Roosevelt's Long Island home. Here, Colman narrows her scope almost to the point of tunnel vision as she recounts in detail what the marchers ate, where they slept, and what the press wrote about them at every stop. She also keeps a close head count of the marchers as they begin to drop out from fatigue over the seven-week trek.

While this careful exposition can be engaging, it often flirts with tedium and at times seems unaccompanied by context. For instance, at one point Jones makes her way to a speaking engagement in Princeton, where a reporter writes that she was "not in a cheerful mood." Colman offers no insight as to why Jones may have given this impression, or what exactly might have darkened her mood. She also keeps the focus trained almost exclusively on Jones; I would've loved a glimpse of the other participants' perspectives—particularly the children—but if the newspapers printed any quotes from the young marchers, Colman opts to omit them.

There's a sort of "one-thing-after-anotherness" about this chapterless book; Colman's straightforward chronological approach fails to build a satisfying structure or dramatic arc. I also found the ending somewhat abrupt as Colman takes just three sketchy paragraphs to get from the last day of the march to Mother Jones' death a quarter-century later. In that penurious space, we learn that a state child labor law was passed in 1905 but not precisely what it did; we're told that a federal law was passed in 1938, but we're not informed that this important New Deal law—the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938—created a minimum wage, limited the work week to 40 hours, and set major restrictions on child labor. A post-script timeline gives scant information about the reforms Mother Jones set in motion, and Colman cites only two sources for the book itself. Nevertheless, I learned a great deal about Mother Jones and this phase of her activism, and the excellent period photos and illustrations go a long way toward enlivening the sometimes limp prose.… (mais)