Tough Times

by Milton Meltzer

Joey’s life is quickly changing. His 2 A.M. milk route is getting shorter and shorter as people leave town to find work elsewhere. And his pa has fewer windows to wash after being given the choice between a new job for less pay and no job at all. Joey’s immigrant family is suffering—as are many others. Joey’s girlfriend Kate’s father, a journalist, has been fired for wanting to publish an article on the bank failures and business closings that are rapidly spreading throughout their part of Massachusetts. When veterans of World War I plan a protest march on Washington, D.C., to gain the bonuses promised them for their service in the war, Joey and his father join the marchers. Once in the nation’s capital, they, like thousands of others from across the country, set up a makeshift tent in one of the “Hoovervilles.” But their hopes are shattered as the president calls in federal troops with rifles, tear-gas, and flaming torches. Stricken with fear, Joey runs away, and ends up riding the railroads with a group of homeless young people. Skillfully blending historical fact and fast-paced fiction, Milton Meltzer brings alive a period when families desperately tried to cope as hopelessness gripped the nation.

Genres: Historical Fiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2007

About the author

Milton Meltzer wrote 110 books, five of which were nominated for the National Book Award. With Langston Hughes, he co-authored A Pictorial History of Black Americans, now in its sixth edition. He received the 2001 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to children's literature, the 1986 Jane Addams Peace Association Children's Book Award, and the 2000 Regina Medal. He died in New York City of esophageal cancer at age 94.

Reviews

[Yarielis Collado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book was sad because it explains how joey went from a good kid to a bad one because they said that he stole from MR. Dillon so the butler saw joey and thought it was him and told the police that he is the one joey sing he is the only responcible for stealing but we all know that its not true that hi was just on his milk route and he saw a robber hit MR. Dillon he was not the one but his friend newt was their with joey but did not see nothing because he was in the trunk of the truck minding his own business.

[Suzy-Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to a good historical novel for middle school age kids, but this just wasn't it. Finding this book reminded me that Accelerated Reader levels aren't very accurate either, because it wasn't a good middle school novel, and it was more suitable for high school. There was inappropriate language and scenes thrown in that were very unnecessary, that would set off any young reader, and it just ruined the rest of the novel for me.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the heart of the novel is the Bonus March on Washington by veterans during the depression. The main character, a seventeen-year-old son of a veteran, works a milk route to help ends meet at home. His father washes windows. When they decide to join the Bonus March, lives are changed. Sometimes the data was a bit heavy-handed, but the story is an important.