by Daniel James Brown
CHS hardcover 236 pages
genre: non-fiction history
I'm glad I borrowed this from Chaska High School . . . I had tentatively thought about buying it for my collection, but with my budget in decline and not many students reading non-fiction . . . it wouldn't be a wise purchase for me.
It was, however, a wonderful book to read! This is the "young readers" edition. The story of the young men who rowed for Washington in the early 1930s (and especially the story of Joe Rantz) was captivating. The author alternated between the rowing story and Rantz' life story. Rantz' mom died when he was only three or four, he went to live with an aunt but got scarlet fever and was deathly ill, his stepmom convinced his dad to leave him to fend for himself when he was only ten, and on and on it went. His fortitude and perseverance amazed me. I loved his personal story the most. The "boys" and their strength, talent, and hard work took them to the Olympics in 1936 (Jesse Owens, Louie Zamperini, . . . ) What a great story!
I love the part on page 168 when he is looking out over Lower Manhattan and sees the Statue of Liberty. "For the first time, Joe realized that he and the boys would not just be rowing for gold. They would be rowing for a way of life, a shared set of values. Liberty was perhaps the most important of those values. But to the boys from Washington, America also stood for trust in one another, for mutual respect, for humility, and for fair play. These ideals were part of what had drawn them together as a crew."
This is a very worthwhile title and I'm so glad that the author got to meet and interview Rantz prior to his death in 2007.
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