America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the '60s

Now we officially have a tie for best one yet!!

1. Bibliography:

Hill, Laban Carrick (2007). America Dreaming: how youth changed America in the sixties. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group.

2. Genre and Awards:

Young Adult Non-Fiction, History, 20^th Century, Social Change

3. Synopsis:

America Dreaming is a huge, colorful explosion of fun facts, insightful articles, and photojournalism at its finest documenting parts of the sixties that are particularly appealing to young people. The ride begins with a look at lifestyles and pop culture at the end of the fifties, stops next at the idealists of the early sixties, and cruises right on to what legacy this generation has left for us today.

4. Characters:

Hill continually puts all the ideas, people, and events he discusses in a framework that is accessible to young people so often the main characters of this book are the youth of the particular time period being documented. Other important characters include a whole host of historical figures including artists, politicians, musicians, Civil Rights activists, poets, hippies, astronauts, and let’s not forget the Communists.

5. Plot:

The narrative of this book moves chronologically through the high points of the sixties in terms of movements, ideals, and events. There are whole chapters devoted to college students leading the way to Civil Rights victories, the radical youth movement, hippie and alternative lifestyles, Black Nationalism, Native American rights, empowerment of Mexican Americans, and the beginning of the environmental movement. The writing is divided by historical sub-headings in the same way a History text would be, but Hill breaks it all up with pictures, loud insets, bold colors and patterns, and magazine-style quotations all over the pages.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

This book probably will not meet the warm, fuzzy emotional needs that the other adolescent fiction we have read will. However, it has great potential to fulfill a need to be more informed about their more recent history, a need to connect with their parents, and a need to understand how their generation got to where it is. This book is probably most beneficial to students in that it makes the history accessible by presenting it in vibrant, rich, colorful mediums.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

Oh wow. I might have as much to say here as Katy can tell you about Chris Crutcher! I can see this book going any number of ways. I am mildly obsessed with the sixties and the whole culture there, so I would love to integrate that into my classroom whenever and at all times possible. This book could be a great way to teach students some concepts about research. It could be an awesome way for students to read a section on, say the beginning of Earth Day, and trace the current pop culture environmentalism trend back to there. There are a ton of little sections on writers from the beat generation and poets from the Civil Rights movement and song lyrics from Dylan and The Beatles that could be integrated into curriculum in a million different ways. I’m not sure if I can see a student sitting down with this book and reading it from cover to cover to become an expert on the sixties – well, I’ll say it would be rare – but I can absolutely see recommending parts of it to students interested in any number of topics. The chapter on Mexican Americans could be huge in a classroom in Springdale. I would venture to guess that there are a lot of Hispanic students here who are asking the same questions and fighting the same fights that these individuals fought forty years ago. How empowering it would be for them to read about the struggles and triumphs of their predecessors. Like I said, I cannot wait to start using this book in a classroom.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

This book could be used in a middle school, junior high, or high school classroom with little question. The only concern I would have for giving it to a middle school student would be that it does cover some of the more radical ideas and people including hippies, Black Nationalists, and violent riots and protests. I think on one hand this book could give us a good “in” for talking about these issues in Literature with those younger students, because it is history. However, some of it is sensitive and I can see parents being concerned. Hill is careful to not get too graphic or too detailed, though, so I think for the most part it could be justified. I would just worry about Sixth-Grade-Johnny’s mom calling to ask why in the – world – I was teaching her son about Malcolm X and Amiri Baraka.

9. Personal Reactions:

I think I will assume that I covered this in the Possible Classroom Uses section. I’ll not rave and gush any longer. You can thank me later.