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The Not-So-Great Depression: In Which The Economy Crashes, My Mom Goes Broke, My Sister's Plans Are Ruined, My Dad Grows Vegetables, And I Do Not Get A Hamster (2010)

by Amy Goldman Koss(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1596436131 (ISBN13: 9781596436138)

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fiction

publisher

Roaring Brook Press

review 1: Jacki is a high school freshman whose world gets turned upside down when her mom gets laid off from her high paying job. Soon, they've lost half of their investments and are having to make some significant changes. Her parents are divorced, her older sister is set on an ivy league school and is perfect in Jacki's eyes until she starts leaving the house more and more, and Jacki's younger brother always has his music so loud he can't hear anything. The storyline is this book is an interesting one, and you definitely want to find out what happens. I would've rated it higher if the main character had seemed more believable--she acted too young for her age. A couple of good quotes from the book:It makes a girl’s chest hurt, thinking about how many ways there are to be alive. ... more--The Not-So-Great DepressionSo long as even the same things are risky, we might as well take our risks on the things that really matter to us.mMaybe we’re supposed to take the risks that count. --The Not-So-Great DepressionIf the choices in life are to be happy, or not--well, that’s an easy one, don’t ya think? --The Not-So-Great Depression
review 2: Jacki, the young teen who narrates the story of her family's sudden expulsion from the upper middle class, is a very appealing character. While her fancy lifestyle might at first be off-putting (for example, she and her siblings are chauffeured around by an au pair not much older than they are, and they seem to have every accoutrement of a California dream home), the tensions and struggles that all families experience soon come to the fore. Her parents are divorced and her father has largely dropped out of the work world, bicycling to a part-time job at a bakery. So when her mother loses her lucrative corporate job, Jacki and her brother and sister quickly feel the loss of stability, both economic and emotional, that her mother has provided. The nanny is let go. The cleaning lady is let go. The prom dress for her sister is let go. And soon the house is up for sale. There is nail-biting while her mother decides whether or not to take a job that will move the family far away from friends and relations. While no one here suffers the consequences of long-term unemployment, this story at least begins to bring to light the emotional pain that economic disruption can entail. It's light and has an implausible conclusion, but that might make it just right for teens worried about their parents' jobs and their own futures. less

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