[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 10, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 10, 2001

  Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call the attention of my 
Colleagues to a new book written by a native of Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania. ``A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt'' vividly conveys the fear 
gripped a young girl as her family home was posted for sheriff's sale.
  This story about life during the Great Depression truly depicts what 
America is all about, and should be a must-read for all Americans. 
Author C. Coco DeYoung based the award-winning novel on her family's 
experience, with vivid details brought to her through her family's 
tradition of storytelling.
  Though written as a children's book by a former educator, the short 
novel is equally compelling to adult readers. Published by Delacorte 
Press, the book won the Sixth Annual Marguerite de Angeli Prize for 
historical fiction and the 2000-2001 Keystone to Reading Book Award. 
Selected by Booklist as a Top 10 First Novel of 1999, and a Teachers' 
Choices 2000 by the International Reading Association, this book has 
also been recognized as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young 
People by the Children's Book Council and the National Council of 
Social Studies. To date, it has been nominated for state book awards in 
seven states.
  The story is based on real events involving De Young's grandfather, 
and her father whose childhood is depicted in the character role of 
Charlie Bandini in the book. As a six-year-old boy, Charlie injures his 
leg, the bone becomes infected and doctors want to amputate. Charlie's 
father (De Young's grandfather in real life) uses everything the family 
owned to borrow $5,000 to bring in a doctor from Massachusetts to save 
the leg. But as the Great Depression set in deeper, he cannot keep up 
with the payments through his business as a shoemaker in Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania. ``Papa'' Bandini, an Italian immigrant, spoke five 
languages doing business with the various immigrant groups that had 
settled in the mill town. Despite their difficulties, he sometimes 
feeds hobos who come to the house for food, and when customers had no 
money, he would accept produce from their gardens as payment for fixing 
shoes.
  Having witnessed the fate of neighbors whose homes had been posted 
for Sheriff Sale, the sense of security of 11-year-old Margo Bandini 
crumbles when she comes home to discover that her own family home had 
been posted by the Sheriff.
  As the family struggles and grapples with their fears, desperate to 
save the family from despair, Margo writes a letter to the First Lady, 
Eleanor Roosevelt.
  Distributor Random House, in its Online Teachers Guide available free 
at www.randomhouse.com, says the book is an excellent tool not only for 
teaching about the history of the Great Depression, but also for 
teaching about brotherhood, family, pride, fear and courage.
  The real-life Coco family became one of the first in Johnstown to 
receive a loan through the Home Owners Loan Corp., a New Deal relief 
project created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. And De Young's 
father, the book-character ``Charlie,'' remarkably is now in his 77th 
year of working in his shoe business--he's been at it since the age of 
six.
  A ``Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt'' creates a vivid sense of time and 
place during the Great Depression and tells a heart-warming story of 
one family's struggles and courageous triumph through dark times. I 
recommend it to anyone.

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