Home Front Girl : A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America

Kept from the early 1930s through the mid-1940s by a young Chicagoan, this diary provides a fascinating, detailed record of the life of an astute and witty teenage girl during the Great Depression and the lead-up to World War II. The only daughter of a working-class Swedish immigrant and his wife, this everyday girl describes her life growing up in the city—from pining for handsome boys in ROTC uniforms and bus trips between the Art Institute and her home to her love of Lake Michigan and, later, her campus life at the University of Chicago. Along the way she ruminates about the daily headlines and major touchstones of the era: the Lindbergh kidnapping, FDR on the radio, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Citizen Kane, Garbo, Churchill, Hitler, war work, and Red Cross meetings. Poems, doodles, and drawings of the latest dress, outfit, or haircut accompany the entries. The diary is an entertaining and delightful read as well as a vivid account of a real American girl’s lived experiences. Literary Classics Gold Medal in Historical Young Adult Literary Classics Words on Wings Young Adult Book AwardWednesday, December 10, 1941'Hitler speaks to Reichstag tomorrow. We just heard the first casualty lists over the radio.... Lots of boys from Michigan and Illinois. Oh my God!... Life goes on though. We read our books in the library and eat lunch, bridge, etc. Phy. Sci. and Calculus. Darn Descartes. Reading Walt Whitman now.'This diary of a smart, astute, and funny teenager provides a fascinating record of what an everyday American girl felt and thought during the Depression and the lead-up to World War II. Young Chicagoan Joan Wehlen describes her daily life growing up in the city and ruminates about the impending war, daily headlines, and major touchstones of the era—FDR's radio addresses, the Lindbergh kidnapping, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Citizen Kane, Churchill and Hitler, war work and Red Cross meetings. Included are Joan's charming doodles of her latest dress or haircut reflective of the era. Home Front Girl is not only an entertaining and delightful read but an important primary source—a vivid account of a real American girl's lived experiences. This diary of a smart, astute, and funny teenager provides a fascinating record of what an everyday American girl felt and thought during the Depression and the lead-up to World War II. Young Chicagoan Joan Wehlen describes her daily life growing up in the city and ruminates about the impending war, daily headlines, and major touchstones of the eraFDRs radio addresses, the Lindbergh kidnapping, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Citizen Kane , Churchill and Hitler, war work and Red Cross meetings. Joans original handrawn doodles of her latest dress or haircut infuse the pages with whimsy and period flavor. Home Front Girl is not only an entertaining and delightful read but an important primary source on the late 1930s and early 1940sa vivid account of a real American girls lived experiences. This is the diary of a smart, astute, and funny teenager, making a record of what an everyday American girl thought and felt during the Depression and the lead-up to World War II. This is an important primary source on the late 1930s and early 1940s.-- From the publisher Age 14 Age 15 Age 16 Age 17 Age 18 Age 19 Age 20.