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Summary
Summary
A diary account of 13-year-old Anetka's life in Poland in 1896, immigration to America, marriage to a coal miner, widowhood, and happiness in finally finding her true love. Her fascinating diary entries give readers a personal glimpse into what life was like in a coal-mining town during a tumultuous time in the country's past.
Author Notes
A former 8th-grade English teacher, Susan Campbell Bartoletti writes fiction and nonfiction for all ages. Black Potatoes is the winner of the ALA Sibert Award for Best Information book, the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Distinguished Nonfiction, and the SCBWI Golden Kite Nonfiction award. She lives with her family in Moscow, PA.
Reviews (4)
Horn Book Review
Purporting to be the diary of Polish immigrant Anetka Kaminski, this well-written and engaging story relates AnetkaÆs arrival in Pennsylvania, her arranged marriage, daily life in a coal mine town, her widowhood to a cave-in, and her eventual happiness with fellow immigrant Leon, after the anti-union Lattimer Massacre of 1897. A back section contains historical information and dark archival photos. From HORN BOOK Fall 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5^-9. The history is dramatic: in 1896 Anetka Kaminska, 13, must leave her Polish village for an arranged marriage with a coal miner in Lattimer, Pennsylvania. Her husband, who was married once before, doesn't love her, and when he's killed in a mining accident a few months after the wedding, she's left to care for his three small daughters and take in boarders to survive. The appalling working conditions in the mines are an integral part of the story and so is the labor struggle for change. Always there's the racism by "Americans" toward the "undesirable foreigners," which culminates in the Lattimer Massacre in which 19 miners are killed. The lively young union organizer, Leon Nasevich, who proves to be Anetka's true love, is just too perfect, but their teasing relationship adds romance to the grim story. The real problem with this book is the format. There's no doubt that the diary entries from the young person's viewpoint make the story immediate and accessible; but it's totally ridiculous that Anetka, who works like a mule caring for the kids and the boarders, and who regrets that she can't find a minute to write a letter to her beloved grandmother in Poland, would keep a daily diary of her life. Bartoletti's long historical note authenticates the account of the immigration, the labor struggle, the massacre, and the role of strong women. And there's a selection of photos to reinforce the history. --Hazel Rochman
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-A vivid and compelling look at the lives of Pennsylvania's immigrant coal miners and their families at the turn of the last century. Anetka, a resourceful Polish girl, is ordered by her father to come to America and marry a man she has never met. At 14, she becomes a miner's wife and the stepmother of three young daughters. The hardships and dangers of life in a mining camp, recorded in diary format, are balanced by the tenderness, friendship, and romance touching Anetka's life. Details of beekeeping and never-ending household chores will win readers' respect for the homemakers of 100 years ago. A glossary of Polish words, maps, music, period photographs, and a staple of recipes add substance to the setting. An "Epilogue" chronicling the characters' lives after the story's close may confuse children, particularly since it's followed by a historical note that describes the characters as fictional. Still, Bartoletti paints an accessible and evocative picture of life in a harsh era.-Valerie Diamond, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Bartoletti has added a nuanced tale to the Dear America series with this diary of a 14-year-old from Sadowka, Poland,1896. Annetka lives with her beloved grandmother and small brother; her mother is dead, and her father has gone to Pennsylvania to work in the anthracite mines. She loves the place where she is, but all that changes when her father says she will come to America to be a bride for one of his coworkers. Annetka goes, in the company of a rakish young fellow named Leon who gets her and her brother out of the country. Annetka's diary continues through the backbreaking labor of the coal miner's wife, for she discovers her new husband is a widower with three small children. The struggles of laundry, cooking, baking, and making ends meet in Lattimer, Pennsylvania are clearly delineated, along with Annetka's joy in beekeeping, in making scented oils, and in coaxing her three small stepchildren to love her. Leon and others urge the workers to strike as they fight not only the filthy and dangerous mines but also the vilification of those who call them foreigners and worse. The story culminates in the Lattimer massacre of September 10, 1897 where unarmed workers were fired upon and at least 19 died. The whole is full of Annetka's spirit, her vivid use of language in snatches of her native Polish as well as her wonderful English metaphors, like kisses "to stick her feet to the floor." (glossary, historical photographs, maps, recipe) (Historical fiction. 9-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
