PLEASE EXCUSE JOHNNY

by Florence McGhee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1952

A supervisor of child welfare and attendance (hookey cop) in California writes of her many experiences with truants, their parents and home life, and juvenile delinquency. The characters are recurrent: Jesus the young Mexican whose family had more than one excuse for his absences; Mamie whose brood had different fathers and whose friendliness softened her continual prostitution; Rita whose Portuguese father blocked her Scouting and school popularity; the Coppers who found need of schooling in spite of a bad family background; Archie whose mother believed bribery would help to educate her son; the gypsies and Indians and the impasses they created. And what were the answers to the wave of pregnancies among the high school girls, the lure of jobs for selfish reasons rather than to help their borderline families, to the kids that drank and hot-rodded and created scandal, for themselves and others. A sob sister accounting which is however solid in the sociological and educational problems involved.

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1952

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952

Categories: NONFICTION