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Kerstein, Lauren H.

Hope Rode

48 pp. | Union Square | August, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781454948483 $18.99
(3) K-3 Illustrated by Becca Stadtlander. During the Great Depression, a portion of the New Deal was extended specifically to women through the Packhorse Library Project. Here readers can see the program at work in Kentucky where it primarily operated. "Packhorse librarians" traveled approximately one hundred miles a week on mules and horses to remote areas in the Appalachian Mountains, bringing books to residents as a means to promote literacy in eastern Kentucky where only thirty-one percent of the people were literate. The packhorse librarians traversed near impossible terrain, read to children and the homebound, and brought news from the wider world. Many of the illustrations, in a near-primitive style, reflect archival photographs, thus creating an authenticity of the land, although the abject poverty is downplayed. Informative back matter, including photographs from the period, adds detail to an engaging story that provides an accessible glimpse into an inspiring moment in U.S. history.
Reviewer: Betty Carter

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