Discussion:
Happy 90th, Joy Hakim! ("A History of Us" series, 1990s)
(too old to reply)
Lenona
2021-01-17 04:39:46 UTC
Permalink
Her last name is pronounced HAKE-im. She lives in Englewood, Colorado.

http://www.joyhakim.com/
(there's a LOT in here)

https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/hakim-joy-1931
(resume, awards, and long article on her work)

https://www.ksl.com/article/129327/science-jumps-off-pages

Science jumps off pages
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Posted 11/15/2005 8:48 PM

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — What could be more borrrrring than a thermometer?
It gets hot, the mercury rises. It gets cold, the mercury falls.

What a shock, then, to read this:
"Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was on the run — running from the
police — because he wanted to make a reliable thermometer."

Thus begins a chapter in The Story of Science: Newton at the Center,
the second of three planned books by renowned children's author Joy
Hakim. The new volume has just been released by Smithsonian Books, but
let's get back to Daniel Fahrenheit ...

Our story so far: Young Daniel's parents have died from eating
poisonous mushrooms, and his four siblings are in foster homes. But
Daniel, "who was quick and bright," is apprenticed to a merchant in
Danzig, Poland. He's miserable — and obsessed with this idea: "Water
always boils at the same temperature!"

His boss drags him to Amsterdam, and he escapes. But wait: The Danzig
authorities send the Amsterdam cops after him. He hightails it to
Denmark, Germany, Sweden ...

Did we mention this is a middle-school physics textbook?..........

(snip)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Hakim
(with notes about Hakim's critics - including the negative William J.
Bennetta)

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=joy+hakim&wrapid=tlif129520804518710&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1020&bih=567
(photos/covers)

From "Contemporary Authors":

Joy Hakim decided to write for schoolchildren when she looked at her
own children's elementary-grade history textbooks and found them dull
and a turn-off. She recalled historian David McCullough's comment that
most history textbooks are no better than "punishment," and she
thought she could do a better job. "A teacher and journalist, Joy
Hakim was so disgusted by the way committees had managed to eliminate
nearly all content from textbooks on American history that she single-
handedly wrote her own series, the bestselling "History of US,"
explained Diana Lutz in Natural History. The ten-volume narrative
history of the United States begins with the earliest human settlement
and continues to the Iraqi War. Hakim has been called "the 'J.K.
Rowling of textbooks' because of her lively writing style and
blockbuster book sales," Jennifer Drapkin wrote in Smithsonian,
referring to the best-selling author of the "Harry Potter" novels.
Originally published in modest numbers by Oxford University Press,
Hakim's nonfiction series has become a popular teaching text in
numerous U.S. schools, and by 2006 it was released in a revised third
edition. In her writing Hakim has attempted to break the traditional
wall between trade publications and textbooks; her books can be found
in bookstores as well as in classrooms throughout America.

Children and adults alike respond to "A History of US" for substantive
and stylistic reasons. Hakim has carefully presented the perspectives
of people from various groups in society by including the voices of
minorities, women, and children as well as those of well-known
leaders. The writing style is that of a personable storyteller rather
than an anonymous historian or textbook committee. In addition, Hakim
peppers her books with questions, primary documents, and colorful
graphics that encourage readers to form their own opinions. As Hakim
once commented: "I want to change things--especially the way children
think about history. I want them to understand that nonfiction can be
as exciting as fiction, and that the satisfactions that come with
ideas and learning are hard to top."

WRITINGS:

"A HISTORY OF US" SERIES
•The First Americans: Prehistory-1600, Oxford University Press (New
York, NY), 1993, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740, Oxford University Press (New
York, NY), 1993, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•From Colonies to Country: 1735-1791, Oxford University Press (New
York, NY), 1993, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•The New Nation: 1789-1850, Oxford University Press (New York, NY),
1993, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•Liberty for All?: 1820-1860, Oxford University Press (New York, NY),
1994, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•War, Terrible War: 1860-1865, Oxford University Press (New York, NY),
1994, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•Reconstruction and Reform: 1865-1890, Oxford University Press (New
York, NY), 1994, revised 3rd edition published as Reconstructing
America: 1865-1890, 2006.
•An Age of Extremes: 1880-1917, Oxford University Press (New York,
NY), 1994, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•War, Peace, and All That Jazz: 1918-1945, Oxford University Press
(New York, NY), 1995, revised 3rd edition, 2006.
•All the People, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995, revised
3rd edition published as All the People: Since 1945, 2006.
•Freedom: A History of US (for adults; companion book to sixteen-part
PBS television series), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.


"THE STORY OF SCIENCE" SERIES
•Aristotle Leads the Way, Smithsonian Books (Washington, DC), 2004.
•Newton at the Center, Smithsonian Books (Washington, DC), 2004.
•Einstein Adds a New Dimension, Smithsonian Books (Washington, DC),
2007.
Lenona
2021-01-17 04:54:28 UTC
Permalink
There are maybe a dozen videos involving Hakim, including a three-hour video on YouTube.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/author/joy-hakim/
(two Kirkus reviews)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/85416.Joy_Hakim
(reader reviews)

https://www.edweek.org/education/interview-must-see-history/2003/01
(Q&A from 2003)

First paragraphs:

Q. As a young student, did you like history?

A. No. I hated history, like everybody else. I thought history was incredibly boring. I went off to college, and I took [a course taught by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian] David Donald, and he just electrified me. It was idea-fettered history, and it changed my whole idea of the field.


Q. What prompted you to start writing the History of US series?

A. I had raised three kids, and I was very disturbed by their books. They weren’t grammatically incorrect, but it was just terrible writing.
We have a reading crisis in our country, for heaven’s sake—why would we give kids books that are so dull, nobody wants to read them? It just doesn’t make sense. History should be every child’s favorite subject. Our most passionate discussions as adults are over politics. Well, the politics of the past is just as interesting, and it’s the same issues. And if you get kids into those issues, they’ll argue about it.

The core of the American story is slavery. How could we have had slavery in the “land of the free?” Most books just make it very dumb: “Slavery was evil, period.” Well, it’s more than that. The real question is, why do good people sometimes do bad things? The people in the South were not all bad people. But they were trapped in a system. And you have to ask yourself, what would you do if you were a very wealthy slave owner, and giving up your slaves would make you poor? I ask kids that question, and suddenly, [they] think, “Wow—I wouldn’t want to be poor.” So there are all sorts of things to think about that, traditionally, the history books haven’t given you...

(snip)

https://www.wired.com/2012/01/muse-of-nerds-joy-hakim-storyteller-extraordinaire/
(short 2012 interview)

https://www.voanews.com/usa/joy-hakim-puts-story-us-history
(2016 profile)

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