When you learn about the New Deal in school, you get maybe a paragraph about the Civilian Conservation Corps. I never had much curiosity about it, though. It seemed like a pretty straightforward subject. Pearson gives the reader the full context for the CCC: FDR's history with the outdoors and the power of manual labor; a basic introduction to the cause and impact of the Great Depression; the effects of long term poverty on physical health and on society at large; and the goals and impact of the CCC itself. The text is very accessible, the vocabulary reasonable for a middle grade audience.

My grandfather escaped a life with no opportunities in Depression-era Los Angeles by joining up with the Civilian Conservation Corp. After graduating from high school and having two siblings and no money for college, he saw this as the best way for him to provide for his family. He was sent to King Canyon and Sequoia Nat Parks to build facilities and infrastructure. The CCC are responsible for roads, trails, and bridges in National Parks all over the United States. In the course of my grandfather’s time in the CCC he acquired many marketable skills and after his tenure was able to secure a job in the local county’s surveyor office. (He met my grandmother in town and eventually I came along. Huge win for the CCC!)

In the early 80s I went to several CCC reunions with my grandparents in Sequoia Nat Park. Veterans of the Corp traded stories and I got to meet many of my grandfather’s friends from that period of his life. We looked at pictures and toured the park’s various CCC sites. One of my favorite pictures of my grandfather and I is of the two of us sitting at a picnic table listening to the speakers at one of the those reunions.

I chose to read Fighting for the Forest because of my connection to the CCC. My history classes in high school and college named the CCC as one of the “alphabet programs” in the New Deal, but I wanted to read a bit more about it. I also was thinking about my own children and when they get to the age where they could learn a bit about their great-grandfather. I believe this is the perfect text to give a young person and one day my children wanting to learn about the Corp… Isn’t that the highest praise a person can give to a book?

Pearson is a very organized writer. She starts by defining the time period of The Depression and the major players, most notably Roosevelt and his cabinet. Then the boots hit the ground and she branches off to focus on the young men who spent their time building Shenandoah National Park, the first of the CCC projects.

Included in the chapters are short focused definitions of various terms important to the time period and the content of the books. For example, “What is a Labor Union?” or “What was The Dust Bowl?” Pearson also looks at the inclusion of African-Americans and other minorities in the CCC and the importance of Frances Perkins as one of its guiding administrators. Filled with key pictures and well-researched quotes from the participants, Fight for the Forest is a worthy addition to any middle-grade library. And one I’ll be getting for my children.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the publisher, and the author P. O'Connell Pearson for an advance copy of Fighting for the Forest: How FDR's Civilian Conversation Corps Helped Save America. This book will be released October 8, 2019. All opinions are my own.

The book is described as an inspirational middle grade nonfiction work that details the story of the Civilian Conservation Corps which was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal projects. This project as well as several others helped pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression and save a generation of Americans.

Nonfiction is one of my favorite genres and this book caught my eye because I grew up in a small community in Oregon that relied heavily on the timber industry for years. I learned so much about the Great Depression, the CCC, and conservation practices while reading this book. Previously, I'd heard of the New Deal programs (often described as Alphabet Soup) and I was familiar with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) but I had never heard of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was amazing to discover how wide spread the CCC was and how it created and/or grew several of our national parks. The book has a huge focus on conservation and not only discusses the conservation programs of the CCC but how they extend to today and apply to what we're doing today. Additionally, the book acknowledges that not everything the CCC did was effective or good practice and that some of the projects actually did more harm than good (for example, trying to eliminate the mosquito population in the Everglades). In addition to the focus on environmental conservation, one of FDR's major goals was to conserve human resources. He saw what the Great Depression was doing to young men both physically and mentally and realized that something needed to be done to save this generation. I think that this is a book that many of my students would be interested in. While it is marketed at middle grades, parts of it are a little dry and may be more appealing to older (YA) readers. Fighting for the Forest would be a great additional to an environmental science elective course.

Fighting for the Forest is an extremely informative book about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). I knew the CCC existed, but I had no idea how big it was and how many projects it undertook. This book is written in language that is straightforward and easy to understand. It's for middle grade readers, but would be a perfect introduction to the CCC for older readers as well. I liked how the author gave information to specific CCC members telling their individual stories as well as the story of the CCC as a whole. After reading this book, I now want to go visit Shenandoah National Park and see past the park to the Corps that created. it.