Library Resources - Children/Teens

Books, videos and sound recordings about the Great Depression available at the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library. Click on title links for KCKPL call number and availability

Fiction

Blizzard of the Blue Moon by Mary Hope Osborne
Jack and Annie are off on another Merlin Mission. This time, Merlin has sent them to rescue a beautiful magical creature--the unicorn. But when they land in New York City during the Depression of the 1930s, Jack and Annie are confused. Where will they find a unicorn in a big city? A book in the Magic Tree house series.

Boxcar Molly: A Story from the Great Depression by James Riordan
It is the 1930s and the Great Depression has generated poverty that threatens to tear America apart. Fourteen-year-old Molly has nobody to rely on but herself. To survive, she needs to find work. Any kind of work will do. With millions unemployed, Molly decides that the only way to find work is to travel. Riding freight trains in search of a decent meal and a place to live, Molly sees the misery of the Depression firsthand.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, ten-year-old Bud is a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression. Bud escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned band leader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

Dust by Arthur Slade
Seven-year-old Matthew disappears one day on a walk into Horshoe, a dust bowl farm town in Depression-era Saskatchewan. Other children go missing just as a strange man named Abram Harsich appears in town. He dazzles the townspeople with the promises of a rainmaking machine. Only Matthew's older brother Robert seems to be able to resist Abram's spell, and to discover what happened to Matthew and the others.

Dust for Dinner by Ann Warren Turner
Jake narrates the story of his family's life in the Oklahoma dust bowl and the journey from their ravaged farm to California during the Great Depression.

The Journal of C.J. Jackson by William Durbin
Acclaimed author William Durbin takes readers to the Oklahoma panhandle where C.J. Jackson and his parents are struggling through the Dust Bowl. A book in the Dear America series.

A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt by Coco De Young
Eleven-year-old Margo Bandini has never been afraid of anything. Her life in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with Mama and Papa and her little brother, Charlie, has always felt secure. But it's 1933, and the Great Depression is changing things for families all across America. One day the impossible happens: Papa cannot make the payments for their house, and the Sheriff Sale sign goes up on their door. They have two weeks to pay the bank, or leave their home forever. Now Margo is afraid--but she's also determined to find a way to help Papa save their home.

Kit Saves the Day!: A Summer Story 1934 by Valerie Tripp
Hobo life sounds pretty exciting to Kit. But when she decides to go on an adventure of her own, she learns it's not as much fun as she thought.

Macaroni Boy by Katherine Ayres
This action-packed novel set in Pittsburgh during the Great Depression details the life of young Mike and his working-class family. "An involving and informative kid's-eye look at several aspects of city life in the 1930s.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
A terrible accident has transformed Billie Jo's life, scarring her inside and out. Her mother is gone. Her father can't talk about it. And the one thing that might make her feel better - playing the piano - is impossible with her wounded hands. To make matters worse, dust storms are devastating the family farm and all the farms nearby. Out of the Dust was awarded the Newbery Medal, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year award and voted one of ALA’s Best Book for Young Adults.

Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression by Kate Lied
When Dorothy's father loses his job and cannot find another, the family borrows a car and sets off for Idaho where jobs picking potatoes can be found. This true story gives children a vivid sense of the Great Depression on a level they can understand.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Winner of the 1977 Newbery Medal, this moving novel has remained in the hearts and minds of millions of readers. Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, it is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice.

Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression by Marissa Moss
On January 1, 1935, Rose Samuels bids good riddance to a dry, desolate year and begins a new one. Set on a Kansas farm, the severe drought has left the fields too dry for crops and the farms are all failing. Times are tough, but with hope, love, and determination, Rose and her family manage to turn the year around.

Saving Strawberry Farm by Deborah Hopkinson
During the Great Depression, Davey learns that a neighbor's property is about to be auctioned, and he rallies his friends, neighbors, and family to help save Strawberry Farm.

Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards by Katelan Janke
A twelve-year-old girl keeps a journal of her family's and friends' difficult experiences in the Texas panhandle, part of the "Dust Bowl," during the Great Depression. Includes a historical note about life in America in 1935. A book in the Dear America series.

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Nonfiction

Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman

Driven from the Land: The Story of the Dust Bowl by Milton Meltzer
Describes the economic and environmental conditions that led to the Great Depression and the horrific dust storms that drove people from their homes westward during the 1930s.

Dust Bowl!: The 1930's Black Blizzards by Richard H. Levey
With blinding clouds of dust blanketing the Great Plains like a raging Black Blizzard, the 1930s Dust Bowl crippled America's farmers, destroying their land and homes. In vivid narrative detail, Dust Bowl! The 1930s Black Blizzard retells the compelling stories of the displaced farmers who struggled through the worst and longest drought in U.S. history.

Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930's by Michael L. Cooper
Cooper takes readers through a tumultuous period in American history, chronicling the everyday struggle for survival by those who lost everything, as well as the mass exodus westward to California on fabled Route 66.

Going to School During the Great Depression by Kerry A. Graves
The Going to School in History series transports students through time to school days of the past. Readers will discover what subjects students studied, what materials they used for writing, and how long the school year lasted. Special sidebars teach the games, crafts, and activities that kids from each time period enjoyed.

The Great Depression by R.G. Grant
In the United States, the Great Depression of the 1930s brought enormous economic hardship. Effectively including primary source materials, this title addresses such topics as the stock market crash of 1929, the worldwide effects of the crash and the Depression's connections to World War II.

Hoping for Rain: The Dust Bowl Adventures of Patty and Earl Buckler by Kate Connell

Welcome to Kits' World, 1934: Growing Up During America's Great Depression by Harriett Brown
Through photographs, illustrations, and both factual and fictionalized anecdotes, shows what life was like in the United States during the Depression. Part of the American Girl series.

Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression by Errol Lincoln Uys
During the Great Depression, more than 250,000 children left their homes and hopped on freight trains crisscrossing the country. They were looking for work and adventure; some wanted to leave their homes, and some had to. Riding the Rails gives us the stories of their travels in their own words and tells us what happened to them in the years since.

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