Helen Plum Library

"During the Great Depression, Ernestine Guerrero's family didn't have much. The true story of a resourceful Mexican American teen who made a remarkable gift to thank President Roosevelt for the food aid that helped them survive!"--

During the Great Depression six-year-old Marvel, her seven siblings, and their mother find a tar-paper shack in the woods and, over the course of a year, turn it into a home. Based on the author's grandmother's childhood; includes historical notes

"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is a satirical masterpiece that employs biting wit and irony to address the pressing issue of poverty and overpopulation in 18th-century Ireland. Swift's proposal, presented in a straightforward and logical manner, suggests a shocking and absurd solution to the problem: the consumption of infants. As readers delve into this essay, they quickly realize that Swift's proposal is not to be taken seriously but is...

Income disparities in our wealthy nation are wider than at any point since the Great Depression. The structure of today's economy has stultified wage growth for half of America's workers-with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color-while bestowing billions on the few at the very top. Lifelong anti-poverty advocate Peter Edelman assesses how the United States can have such an outsized number of unemployed and working poor despite...

From the perspective of the young adult he was then, Francisco Jiménez describes the challenges he faced in his efforts to continue his education. During his college years, the very family solidarity that allowed Francisco to survive as a child is tested. Not only must he leave his family behind when he goes to Santa Clara University, but while Francisco is there, his father abandons the family and returns to Mexico. This is the story of how Francisco...

Tree-ear, an orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch'ulp'o, a potters' village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter's craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated-until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min's irascible temper, and his...

The issue of inequality has irrefutably returned to the fore, riding on the anger against Wall Street following the 2008 financial crisis and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of the super–rich. The Occupy movement made the plight of the 99 percent an indelible part of the public consciousness, and concerns about inequality were a decisive factor in the 2012 presidential elections. How bad is it? According to Pulitzer...