Pick-and-Shovel Poet
The Journeys of Pascal D'Angelo
By Jim Murphy
(Clarion Books, Hardcover, 9780395776100, 176pp.)
Publication Date: October 2000
Categories: Biography & Autobiography - Cultural Heritage, Biography & Autobiography - Literary, Social Issues - Emigration & Immigration
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In this inspiring biography, critically acclaimed author Jim Murphy tells the unique story of Pascal D’Angelo, who came to America in 1910 at the age of sixteen. Like so many immigrants from southern Italy and other parts of Europe, he took on the only job available to him, that of a manual laborer building roads and railways. Though his life was difficult, Pascal remained optimistic and never lost his sense of wonder at the world around him. He yearned for an outlet to express his passion, and so, remarkably, he taught himself English from newspapers and poetry books, in the process becoming a respected poet himself.
Augmented with parallel references to other immigrant stories and accompanied by moving archival photographs, this story of one man’s life and noteworthy accomplishments is also a universal story shared by all American immigrants who helped build our nation. Source notes, bibliography, index.
Jim Murphy is the author of An American Plague, which received the Sibert Medal and a Newbery Honor and was selected as a National Book Award finalist. His Clarion titles include The Boy's War and other award-winning nonfiction as well as a picture book, Fergus and the Night-Demon. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his family. For more information visit www.jimmurphybooks.com.
"An important, inspiring, and well-documented book that will complement any collection." School Library Journal, Starred
"A biography of a common man that is also the history of a civilization and its times." Kirkus Reviews
"Murphy synthesizes the personal with the universal, making D'Angelo's life stand for not only the sum of his experience but for the sum of the experience of his fellow immigrants." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Jim Murphy provides a compelling tribute to the indomitable masses who, through their labor, helped to modernize America." Horn Book
Except for his autobiography and some poetry, not much has been written about Pascal D'Angelo, who immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in 1910 and lived a life of hardship until his death at age 38. Consequently, Murphy sets his passionate biography in a historical context that broadens the book's scope. Detailed early chapters give a strong sense of the emotional and physical stamina it took for poor Italian farmers to leave their families and homeland, and the often nightmarish experiences, from Ellis Island to building railroads, that awaited them in their new land. D'Angelo proves an inspiring figure who maintained his optimism despite financial hardship, ethnic discrimination, and crippling labor. The poet's works are brief and few, but this reverent biography is filled with his indomitable spirit. Black-and-white archival photos show the times, places, and people.
Booklist, ALA
The dream and the reality of the unskilled, non-English speaking immigrant's experience in early 1900s America is portrayed vividly in this biography of Italian-born poet Pascal D'Angelo. . . . Murphy's skillful placement of Pascal's personal experiences, as related with passion in the poet's 1924 autobiography, in their historical context makes this book a multifaceted read. With stunning black-and-white photographs and clear unsentimental prose, Murphy shows Pascal as an immigrant Everyman.
VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
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