Mr. Williams

By; Karen Barbour

This book is full of Karen Barbours memories of the stories she grew up hearing Mr. Williams tell.  Mr. Williams was born in 1929 and grew up duing the time Calvin Coolidge was president, the Great Depression and Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth.  He and his 11 siblings lived in a pine house  in Arcadia, Louisiana.  Their family plowed the feilds and grew cotton, peanuts, sugarcane and other crops.  His stories tell of his life and the farm and also how he was treated by some of  "the white people" he came in contact with.  The ending line gives a wonderful summary to this book, "That's how it was back then, and that was a long time ago."

The illustrations in this book are wonderful and depict the time period very well.  I enjoyed reading about Mr. Williams life and would imagine myself sitting around the table listening to him tell of his childhood.  The back page of the book includes the authors note along with a picture of Mr. Williams.  I think this is a wonderful book to help students really connect with someone who lived in this time period.  I feel that students would reasily relate to J.W. and the way he grew up, the chores he had to do, and how he celebrated Christmas.  It would also be a great book to introduce students to biographies and even encourage students to write stories about their peers.