Dust Bowl

• Durbin, William
  The Journal of C. J. Jackson: a Dust Bowl Migrant
  Thirteen year old C.J. records in a journal the conditions of the dust that causes the Jackson family to leave their farm in Oklahoma and make the difficult journey to California, where they find a harsh life as migrant workers.
• Hesse, Karen
  Out of the Dust
  In a series of poems, fifteen year old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.
• Lied, Kate
  Potato: a Tale from the Great Depression
  During the "Great Depression" a family seeking work finds employment for two weeks digging potatoes in Idaho.
• Wells, Rosemary
  Wingwalker
  During the depression, Reuben and his out of work parents move from Oklahoma to Minnesota, where his father gets a job as a carnival wingwalker and Reuben has a chance to overcome his terror of flying.

Homelessness

• Ackerman, Karen
  The Leaves in October
  Explores the desperate realities faced by homeless people, as Livvy's family, her newly laid off father and brother, are abandoned by her mother, and come to terms with possible separation, poverty and dependency, as they face the uncertainty the future holds.
• Bunting, Eve
  Fly Away Home
  A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal and trying not to be noticed, is given hope when he sees a trapped bird find it's freedom.
• Fox, Paula
  Monkey Island
  Forced, through a set of unfortunate circumstances involving job loss and abandonment, 12 year old Clay befriended by two homeless men, comes to live in a park known as Monkey Island. This powerful novel encourages readers to carefully consider the plight of the homeless.
• George, Jean Craighead
  The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo: an Ecological Mystery
  Though ecology and the environment are major themes in this book, the homelessness of the 5 major characters, including 12 year old Liza and her mom, (who are escaping the abusive father) form the characters who make up this ecological thriller.

Japanese Internment in World War II

• Bunting, Eve
  So Far from the Sea
  When Laura and her family are ready to make a move to Boston from their native California, her family visits her Grandfather's grave at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. Laura's father and his family had been interred there, and his family had everything taken from them. The families visit to the gravesite includes Laura leaving a special gift, very symbolic of the time when the internment occurred.
• Dennenberg, Barry
  The Journal of Ben Uchida, Citizen #13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp
  Twelve Year old Ben Uchida is sent to the barren desolate Mirror Lake internment camp during World War II, simply because his family was Japanese American. Here Ben keeps a journal of his experiences and thoughts.
• Houston, Jean Wakasuki
  Farewell to Manzanar, a True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment
  The true story a one spirited Japanese family's attempt to survive the forced detention at the Manzanar Detention Camp. The youngest child, Jeanne, was 7 years old when this forced detention began. Her story provides a sobering and detailed account of what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.
• Mazer, Harry
  A Boy No More
  After Adam's father, a naval officer, is killed in the attack at Pearl Harbor, Adam and his mother and sister are evacuated to from Hawaii to California. His best friend in Hawaii Davi, is of Japanese American descent, and asks Adam's help in finding his father, who has been sent to the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar, Ca. Here Adam must explore the questions of patriotism, friendship and loyalty.
• Mochizuki, Ken
  Baseball Saved Us
  In this story, the parents of the author are sent to an internment camp in Idaho. The baseball diamond gave purpose and a way of passing time to the young boy. The skills and abilities he developed during this time helped him in his career after the war.
• Uchida, Yoshiko
  The Bracelet
  Emi, was a Japanese American in second grade when she is sent with her family to an internment camp during World War II. She discovers that she has lost the bracelet that her best friend, Laura gave her. She soon realizes that the memory of her friend Laura was as important as the physical reminder of the bracelet.
• Uchida, Yoshiko
  Journey Home
  After their release from an American Internment camp, a Japanese American family try to reconstruct their lives amidst strong anti Japanese feeling, which breed fear distrust and violence.

Native American Relocation

• Dunn, John M.
  The Relocation of the North American Indian
  This relocation includes 300 years of policies, conscious and unconscious, that deprived Indians of their lives, land, and self determination. The unrelenting drive to contain all of the Native American tribes is marked with the same misunderstandings that exist between Native American and whites exist today.
• Grant, Matthew
  Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
  Biography of the Nez Perce Chief who, in a dispute with the United States Army, successfully led his outnumbered tribe on a one thousand mile retreat.
• O'Dell, Scott
  Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
  In the late nineteenth century, a young Nez Perce girls related how her people were driven off their land by the U.S. army and forced to retreat north until their eventual surrender.
• Turner, Anne Warren
  The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: the Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl
  Tells the story of the 400 mile walk of the Navajo people walk from their ancestral homeland through the snow to Fort Sumner. Rich with details of Native American life, and historically accurate, this book offers the reader a fair representation of the fear, suffering and confusion experienced by the people.

Past Featured Books