Nellie Bly and Investigative Journalism for Kids ─ Mighty Muckrakers from the Golden Age to Today, With 21 Activities

An interactive activity book that details the muckraking era

Nellie Bly and Investigative Journalism for Kids brings to light the evolving world of American journalism, from the late 1800s to today. Focusing on the bold, audacious investigative reporter Nellie Bly, one of the most famous women in the world in her day, the book presents journalism in a fun, inventive, and exciting way. Budding reporters learn how Bly, who so desired to work in the male-dominated world of reporting, willingly feigned her own insanity to be committed to a mental asylum so she could go undercover and write about it. Providing a comprehensive look at early social reform writers and reporters who helped transform journalism, the book also introduces young readers to four famous early American muckrakers—Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, Ida B. Wells, and Upton Sinclair—and concludes with a look at some of the modern era’s most exciting and accomplished journalists. Twenty-one creative activities encourage a new generation to carry on the muckraking tradition as kids learn how to make and keep a reporter’s notebook, write a letter to the editor, craft a “great ideas” box, and much more. Packed with compelling photos and interesting sidebars, Nelly Bly and Investigative Journalism for Kids will get young readers excited about the world of journalism and especially about writing.

Ellen Mahoney is an affiliate faculty instructor in the department of journalism and technical communication at Metro State University of Denver and is the coauthor with astronaut Edgar Mitchell ofEarthrise. She has worked for Walt Disney Imagineering as a staff writer; produced radio features for the BBC World Service; and contributed as a feature article writer and photographer toBoulder Weekly, Center for Resource Conservation Magazine, Daily Camera,Edible Front Range Magazine, Longmont Ledger, and YES! Magazine. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.