Historical Fiction: Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

Based solely on the title, I was unsure of what to expect going into Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm. Published in 2016, the story follows Beans Curry, a 10-year-old boy who lives in Key West, Florida in 1934. He attempts to help his family throughout their financial struggles by doing odd jobs and eventually getting involved with a local criminal, Johnny Cakes. He begins helping Johnny by smuggling rum, which eventually leads to consequences he seemingly was not expecting. The local government also devises a plan to turn the island into a tourist destination, and eventually, things begin to look up as the environment improves due to this newfound economic boom. 

I think the book is incredibly well-written for a younger audience. It touches on themes with a more mature feel in a way that younger students would be able to understand. Learning about the Great Depression in a typical, historical way (textbooks, lectures, etc.) may be difficult for young students. Providing them with a character who is their age gives them something to relate to, and looking at such a dark time in history through a child's lens may make it easier for students to grasp the mature themes being discussed. When I was in middle school, I remember reading The Diary of Anne Frank and Milkweed and being incredibly interested in both specifically because they were written through the perspective of people my age. While the story and time period may be different, I think it's still the same general idea of giving a young student a character to relate to in order to invoke an interest in the time period.

The idea of Beans working with criminals to help his family make ends meet is also one I find incredibly interesting. I think it's a great way of teaching students about morals and ethics. Is it really ethical for him to do something illegal just so his family doesn't starve? The lesson reminds me a lot of Les Miserables, which is obviously a much more mature book! The main character steals a loaf of bread for his starving family and is sentenced to serve his time basically as a slave. It's a similar conundrum of is it really ethical to do illegal things if it's for a good reason, though this is on a much smaller scale that students could potentially relate to more closely. I just thought the parallel was interesting, and it's a great way to introduce ethics to young students! 

Overall, I think this is an incredibly versatile title to have in a library or a classroom library! English teachers can utilize this as another option for the standard lesson (that aligns with the curriculum), and history teachers can use this as a way of teaching the time period during the Great Depression. It's also just a pretty entertaining book to read if you have a student interested in history; I was definitely a kid who fixated on this time period during history class, and I would have really loved having something like this available on the shelf. 

Word count: 516