Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story (Tales of Young Americans) Hardcover – March 1, 2007

I purchased this text for my 5th grade students as a read aloud during our historical fiction unit. The author shows many details about the Great Depression, especially as Rudy looks for work and struggles to keep himself fed. The hobo signs are also intriguing. Mackall reveals just enough about the symbols to hook the readers. I would've liked to see more character development for Rudy, (or maybe the other hoboes), and more of a climax and interesting resolution.

I have read this book to senior citizen groups and they are captivated by the illustrations, but mostly by the content. Very well written and researched by the author. Hobo means "homeward bound". Wonderful way to teach the history of the 1930's to elementary students.

Excellent resource as a stand alone read aloud or paired text for historical content and literature standards.

This book shows how young boys helped their families during the depression. Follow Rudy from his home in Ohio to California.

This is an excellent author so I know anything she writes will be of high standards. This book was no exception. In a note at the beginning of the book the author shares that she met the real ‘Rudy’—a man who as a boy rode the rails to earn money to support himself during the Depression. His story inspired her to put together this children’s book about what it would have been like for an impoverished youth to travel across the country, alone and yet determined. When Rudy’s family struggles to provide enough food for the children, he runs away to try to find a job and send money home to help his family. Along the way, he encounters strangers who turn him away and others who befriend him, almost against his better judgment.Rudy learns much about himself and the world around him.The illustrations by Chris Ellison are beautiful additions to the poignant story. It was fun to see a glossary for hobo signs.I recommend this book as a good read-aloud by librarians in an upper elementary/ middle grades.

Rudy, a thirteen-year old boy, and his family face extreme hardship during the Great Depression. More than half of all workers in Akron, Ohio, had lost their jobs, including Rudy's father, and new paid work was difficult to find. Ma waited in relief lines for what could often be stale and moldy food, and Rudy's sisters found sustenance at the soup kitchen and local mission. Not wanting to be a burden on his struggling family, Rudy decided to take a step similar to other teenagers he had heard about: he hopped a train to go West as a hobo. Dreams of a better life in California and the chance to send money back home helped to sustain him as he experienced hunger, cold, fear, and fatigue while traveling. Along the way, Rudy learned of a hidden network of kindhearted strangers who made it a point to feed hungry hobos passing through.While the Great Depression may seem like a distant and obscure event to young children, this exceptional book brings the topic to life with its moving text and realistic illustrations. According to the author's note, a quarter of a million teenagers turned to hobo life as a survival strategy during the Depression, facing issues similar to those that the homeless face today. As historical fiction, Rudy Rides the Rails does an excellent job in providing children with a rich context for understanding problems of unemployment, scarcity, and recession in the economic world around them.

I read this book out loud to a group of 21 elementary students learning about the Great Depression. It summed up what I was trying to teach them about hoboes better than anything I could have said myself and left them spellbound. I highly recommend it.

Students loved it!