There have been several very powerful accounts written of life during the Great Depression. Amongst those appropriate for a young adult audience, a good number of stories from the Dust Bowl can be found. Although this era of American History is generally a subject taught later in school (11th grade in Billerica, MA), the list below includes a variety of reading levels, as well as both nonfiction and historical fiction titles that describe what it was like living in the Dust Bowl. Each title is accompanied by a short annotation. Reading levels are approximate, taken from sources such as School Library Journal and Amazon when available.
~Sandra Woodbury
Non-Fiction
Years of Dust. Albert Marrin. 2009. Dutton. 128 p. ISBN: 9780525420774.
Reading level: Grade 5 & Up
Marrin describes the ecological circumstances that led to the Dust Bowl and then puts it into the larger context of the Great Depression. The author writes with clarity and flair and uses excerpts from primary sources to give voice to the people who explored and settled the plains as well as those who suffered through this environmental disaster. The narrative is supplemented with several maps and large, riveting reproductions of period photos and illustrations.
Growing Up in the Great Depression. Richard Wormser. 1994. Athenum. 124 p. ISBN: 0689317115.
Reading level: Grade 5 & Up
This book tells what it was like growing up in the Depression form the viewpoints of those who experienced it. “Although from different backgrounds and circumstances, the men and women in this book shared one thing in common – all were growing up during the depression. Their ages ranged from ten to nineteen. Their experiences varied: they were hoboes and dancers, worked in sweatshops or farms, became poorer or richer, remained unemployed or became labor organizers, lived by their wits or went to jail” (p. 14). Though the book includes a variety of stories from the Great Depression, memories of those in the Dust Bowl and the plight of farmers are told through people like Viola Cooper (pp. 30 – 46).
Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the Dust Bowl. Jerry Stanley. 1992. Crown Publishers. 96 p. ISBN: 0517587815.
Reading level: Grade 6 & Up
A well-researched, highly readable portrait of the ``Okies'' driven to California by the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. After first describing the desperation of their lives in the Midwest, the book follows them on their trek across the western United States to the promise of work in California, where their hopes were dashed. After providing this thorough, sympathetic context of their plight, he zeroes in on the residents of Weedpatch Camp, one of several farm-labor camps built by the federal government. Interviews with the school's former teachers and pupils make Children of the Dust Bowl useful to students of oral history, as well as of the Depression. (adapted from School Library Journal review).
We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History. Phillip Hoose. 2001. Melanie Kroupa Books. ISBN: 0374382522. 276 p.
Reading level: Grade 5 & Up
Based largely on primary sources (journals and interviews), this book features the stories of over seventy young people from a variety of historical periods in the United States. One of these people is Harley Holladay, who tells the tale of living in the Dust Bowl covered in dust and fearing storms (pp. 196-198). Others relate their experiences from the Great Depression: riding the rails, bread lines, and the stock market crash.
Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression. Errol Lincoln Uys. 1999.TV Books. ISBN: 1575000377. 336 p.
Reading Level: Grade 9 & Up
This book tells the tales of the “250,000 teenage hoboes roaming America” during the Great Depression. The Dust Bowl is not discussed in depth, though several of the hoboes either fled from the area or passed through it on their travels. However, this is a powerful account of what life was like for those who were made homeless by the Depression. It is written in a conversational tone, seamlessly blending the stories of so many into a single, comprehensive voice.
The Great Depression: An Eyewitness History. David F. Burg. 1996. Facts on File. 390 p. ISBN: 0816030952.
Reading Level: Grade 11 & Up
This impressive tomb includes hundreds of first-hand accounts of the Great Depression. It draws on memoirs, letters, speeches, and newspaper articles and presents them along with introductory essays and background information. A number of these focus on the Dust Bowl (pp. 114-116; 145-146; 178-179) and farmers (pp. 111; 140-141). An updated edition was released in 2005. Comparable titles include the Gale American Decades series, Time-Life’s This Fabulous Century series, and Facts On File's Day by Day series.
Letters From the Dust Bowl. Caroline Henderson. 2003. Red River Books. 278 p. ISBN: 9780806135403
Reading Level: Adult
Caroline Henderson’s articles on the Oklahoma Dust Bowl began appearing in "Atlantic Monthly" in 1931, bringing national attention to the troubles of United States farmers. In "Letters from the Dust Bowl," Alvin O. Turner has collected and edited Henderson’s published materials and personal correspondence dating from 1908 to 1966. Turner supplements Henderson’s work with a biographical essay and discerning annotations to present a complete picture of this remarkable woman. She had moved to Oklahoma’s panhandle to homestead and teach in 1907, and her writing mirrored her love of the land and of the literature that sustained her as she struggled for survival during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Even today, Henderson’s articles, notably "Letters from the Dust Bowl," are frequently cited for her vivid descriptions of the dust storms that ravaged the Plains.
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression. Mildred Kalish. 2007. Bantam Dell. 304 p. ISBN: 9780553804959.
Reading Level: Adult
As the title indicates, this is the memoir of a girl growing up on her grandparents’ farm in Iowa during the Depression. But rather than recounting sorrow and bleakness, this story is told by a woman who absolutely loved her childhood. She was raised strictly and taught to work and do without luxuries, all of which she recounts as blessings. Though Iowan farmers were hit hard by the Depression, many of them forced to auction their farms and leave, Kalish’s book reminds us that even through all this, life was happening – kids went swimming, ran about shooting each other with rubber bands, and ate (the book even includes recipes). Although this book is not the most ideal to include in every Depression/Dust Bowl program, some might benefit from reading the happier memories of Mildred Kalish along with the darker portraits found elsewhere.
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. Timothy Egan. 2005. Houghton Mifflin. 352 p. ISBN: 9780618346974.
Reading Level: Adult
Though this book is written for an adult audience, it is one of the most dramatic and exciting accounts of the Dust Bowl there is. Egan follows six families and their communities as they persevered through the dust storms, bankruptcy, and crop failures, and deaths of loved ones around them. Through interviews with the survivors and thorough research, he creates an extremely accurate and equally affecting portrait of the time. Great for advanced readers.
Farming the Dust Bowl: A First-Hand Account from Kansas. Lawrence Svobida . 1986. University Press of Kansas. 256 p. ISBN: 9780700602902.
Reading Level: Adult
This is the story of Lawrence Svobida, a Kansas wheat farmer who fought searing drought, wind, erosion, and economic hard times in the Dust Bowl. Svobida's description of Dust Bowl agriculture is important not only because it accurately describes farming in that region, but also because it is one of the few first-hand accounts that remain of the frightening and still haunting dust-laden decade of the 1930s. This graphic account of farm life in the Dust Bowl was first published in 1941. The new edition contains an introduction by the historian R. Douglas Hurt that not only objectively sets the scene during and after the Dust bowl, but also places the book properly in the growing body of contemporary literature on agriculture and land use.
Fiction
The Journal of C.J. Jackson: A Dust Bowl Migrant. (My Name is America series). William Durbin. 2002. Scolastic. 169 p. ISBN: 9780439153065.
Reading Level: Grades 4-7
D.J. and his family live in the epicenter of the worst dust storm in American history, so they are forced to abandon their beloved farm and make the arduous journey to California in search of work. The teen chronicles the discrimination, disappointment, and hardship that thousands of "Okies" endured. C. J. is an authentic and likable protagonist and Durbin effectively conveys the plight of Dust Bowl families, from the horrendous conditions in the camps to the demeaning and demanding life of a migrant worker. A historical note and a selection of captioned black-and-white photos round out the book. This is a good book to pique students’ curiosity enough to learn more about the Depression.
Cat Running. Zilpha Keatley Snyder. 1994. Yearling. 168 p. ISBN: 9780440411529.
Reading Level: Grades 4-7
Play Day is approaching, but Cat Kinsey, the fastest runner at school, won't be participating in the races because her old-fashioned, bull-headed father won't allow her to wear pants even while playing sports. Cat is so busy being angry at her family that she doesn't have time to think about bigger problems-the Depression, for instance-until circumstances involve her with a family of "Okies" who work on a nearby farm. Cat's gripes seem small compared with the obstacles facing the Perkinses, who have lost both their land and their house to dust storms. Now, camping out in an old Studebaker, the Perkinses work long hours just to make enough money for food. Cat can offer the family little besides sympathy until the youngest Perkins, Samantha, catches pneumonia and Cat, running the most important race of her life, fetches a doctor in the nick of time. Snyder (The Egypt Game) gracefully demonstrates the strength and pride of the Perkins family. With equal skill, she relates how Cat's initial repugnance of "Okies" evolves into enormous compassion-which extends to her own family as well. This tender historical novel is as moving as it is insightful. (Publishers Weekly review)
Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, Texas 1935. (Dear America Series). Katelan Janke. 2002. Scholastic. 190 p. ISBN: 9780439215992.
Reading Level: Grades 4-8
Centered on a 12-year-old's perspective of home and school, chores and friends, Grace's diary reveals in graphic detail what life was like when farms failed, families went hungry, and children died from dust pneumonia because no rain fell. Old photographs and advertisements, part of the Historical Notes section, add further detail to a rather depressing, but fictionalized, authentically flavored account of a significant portion of American history.
The Truth About Sparrows. Marian Hale. 2004. Henry Holt. 272 p. ISBN: 9780805075847.
Reading Level: Grades 5-8
Twelve-year-old Sadie is heartbroken when her family, forced by drought and the Depression, leaves their Missouri home for Texas, where Sadie's father hopes to try fishing. Sadie is resentful and saddened by the variety of crises she has to face. However, this story has a positive tone. Sadie's father may be down, but he is far from out. Her mom may be keeping house in a tent, but she does so efficiently while cheerfully reminding Sadie that "who you are inside always shows." Rich with social history, this novel is informative, enjoyable, and affecting. An excellent choice for class discussion, it captures the difficult specifics of an era, while asking larger questions about what it means to leave a life behind and start again. (adapted from School Library Journal and Booklist reviews)
Treasures in the Dust. Tracey Porter. 1997. Joanna Cotler Books. 148 p. ISBN: 0060275634.
Reading Level: Grades 5-8
In a moving docu-novel, Porter tells the story of 11-year-old best friends, Annie and Violet, in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. Annie's family manages to hold on to their farm. Violet's family is eventually driven to seek work in California. The girls tell their stories in alternating first-person narratives and then in letters. Readers will be held by the daily particulars of the struggle to keep going when dunes shift and change every day and dust seeps through cracks in the window and covers your pillow when you sleep. Violet's account of the struggle in California is just as graphic, including the exploitation and prejudice and "the days when my shoulders ache so much from working fields that I can't bear lifting my hands to wash my face." (Booklist review)
Out of the Dust. Karen Hesse. 1997. Scholastic. 240 p. ISBN: 9780590360807.
Reading Level: Grades 6–8
In this tale of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, 14-year-old narrator Billie Jo writes in sparse, free-floating verse. In journal form, she reveals the grim domestic realities of living during the years of constant dust storms. Perhaps swallowing all that grit is what gives Billie Jo, a strong, endearing, rough-cut heroine, the stoic courage to face the death of her mother after a hideous accident that also leaves her piano-playing hands in pain and permanently scarred. Meanwhile, Billie Jo's silent, windblown father is literally decaying with grief and skin cancer before her very eyes. When she decides to flee the lingering ghosts and dust of her homestead and jump a train west, she discovers a simple but profound truth about herself and her plight. (adapted from Amazon.com review)
The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck. 2006. Penguin Classics. 464 p. ISBN: 9781417747818.
Reading Level: Grade 6 & Up
The classic novel by John Steinbeck, originally published in 1939, brings the Dust Bowl years to life in a most memorable way. Set during the Great Depression, the book traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers. It poses fundamental questions about justice, the ownership and stewardship of the land, the role of government, power, and the very foundations of capitalist society.
The Storm in the Barn. Matt Phelan. Candlewick Press. 208 p. ISBN: 9780763636180
Reading Level: Grades 5-7
This graphic novel portrays the life of 11-year-old Jack, who faces normal problems like bullies but also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl in 1937 Kansas.
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