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Mom, What's a Credit Default Swap?Books to read your children during a financial crisis.

By Erica S. PerlPosted Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, at 7:06 AM ET

The first time I heard the word recession, I was 10 years old. It was 1978, and my parents, like everyone we knew, were cranky and stressed out about gas shortages and rising food prices. One of the ways I coped was by burying my nose in books and discovering kids who had it worse than I did. Like Ramona Quimby, whose dad got fired and took up residence on the couch. And Laura Ingalls, whose dad kept hitching up the wagon to drag his bonneted brood to the middle of nowhere. Many of the books I discovered during the late '70s featured themes of economic hardship that made my circumstances seem manageable by comparison—a happy coincidence, I thought at the time. Looking back, I'm not so sure this was an accident. A review of popular American children's books of the past century reveals a recurring theme in the children's publishing industry: When times are tough, cue the stories about times that were even tougher.

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Click here for a slide show on great children's books for tough economic times.

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Emily Bazelon suggested books that romanticize the image of the father, including some from the Ramona and Little House series. Bazelon also asked why little boys love little girls' books, such as Little House on the Prarie. Slate women discussed the message behind the American Girl doll line. Erica S. Perl explained how Hollywood wants to help your child read.

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Erica S. Perl is the author of Ninety-Three in My Family and Chicken Bedtime Is Really Early. She has also written two novels for young people that are forthcoming, and she contributes to Pajamazon, the children's book column at Offsprung.com.

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