For no particular reason, tonight I found myself thinking about books I read long ago. I've been doing a lot of reading recently, in particular all of the crime novels by Michael Connelly. There was nothing about these books to make me think back about the juvenille fiction I remember so well so many years later, but it does tie in nicely to the 80's theme of the memories I asked readers to talk about.
In today's world of google and amazon I found listings for both of these titles.
The Pushcart War and Escape from Warsaw.
The Pushcart War is a story about pushcart vendors in a large city (might have been New York), who are being bullied by drivers of large trucks that are crowding the streets. The conflict continues as the pushcart drivers fight back by shooting pins into the tires of the trucks using pea shooters. Eventually the mayor get involved, being a he is backed by the trucking company owners. The citizens come to the defense of the pushcart operators and eventually the little man beats the corporate machine.
What I found really interesting is that though this book was published in 1964 and further printings have updated the time of the conflict, always keeping it contemporary and in the near future for the setting.
Escape from Warsaw was originally titled The Silver Sword. It was an adventure story of sorts depicting the efforts of three children living in Poland during World War II. Their father is taken by the Nazi's and later their mother is taken too. The kids must then fen for themselves, working to travel to Switzerland where they are sure they will reunite with their father who has since escaped from Nazi imprisonment.
If you have kids who like to read, probably in the age range of 9 to 12, they may enjoy this book.
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