Recommended Reading: Adults
Books by Our One Story Authors and Illustrator
Recommended Reading: Young Adults
Recommended Reading: Juvenile Books
More
Recommended Reading
Books set in the 1930s, about the era, the WPA, the Dust Bowl, photographers, farms, farm workers, California and more.
For Adults:
Fiction
 Saint Maizie Jami Attenberg |
 San Miguel T.C. Boyle |
 Rainwater Sandra Brown |
 Prayers For Sale Sandra Dallas |
 World’s Fair E.L. Doctorow |
 Water for Elephants Sara Gruen |
 House of Earth Woody Guthrie |
 Ironweed William Kennedy |
 Woman With a Gun Phillip Margolin |
 The Lost Mother Mary McGarry Morris |
 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka |
 Eight Girls Taking Pictures Whitney Otto |
 Some Luck Jane Smiley |
 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck |
 The Color Purple Alice Walker |
 The Shadow Catcher Marianne Wiggins |
Biographies, Memoirs and Oral Histories
 It’s What I Do Lynsey Addario |
 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee |
 Ava’s Man Rick Bragg |
 Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher Timothy Egan |
 How the World Was: A California Childhood Emmanuel Guibert |
 Little Heathens Mildred Armstrong Kalish |
 The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression John F. Kasson |
 Aperture Masters of Photography Dorothea Lange |
Photographs of a Lifetime Dorothea Lange |
 A Hungry Heart Gordon Parks |
 A History of Women Photographers Naomi Rosenblum |
 The Great Depression: A Diary Benjamin Roth |
 Soul of a People David Taylor |
 Hard Times Studs Terkel |
Nonfiction
 The Dark Valley Piers Brendon |
 The Boys in the Boat Daniel Brown |
 The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History Dayton Duncan |
 The Worst Hard Time Timothy Egan |
 Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand |
 Fear Itself Ira Katznelson |
 The Food of a Younger Land Mark Kurlansky |
 Believing is Seeing Errol Morris |
 Furious Improvisation Susan Quinn |
 This Land That I Love John Shaw |
 On Reading the Grapes of Wrath Susan Shillinglaw |
 California: A History Kevin Starr |
 Imperial William Vollman |
 America Eats!: On the Road with the W.P.A. Pat Willard |
Books by Our One Story Authors and Illustrator
Marisa Silver
 Alone With You |
 The God of War |
 No Direction Home |
Pam Munoz Ryan
 Becoming Naomi Leon |
 Echo |
 Paint the Wind |
 Riding Freedom |
Rafael López
 Book Fiesta |
 The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred |
 Drum Dream Girl |
 My Name is Celia |
 Tito Puente |
Young Adult Books
Fiction
 The Wonder Show Hannah Barnaby |
 The Game of Love and Death Martha Brockenbrough |
 Tell Us We’re Home Marina Tamar Budhos |
First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants ed. Paul Gallo |
 La Linea Ann Jaramillo |
 Under the Mesquite Guadalupe Garcia mcCall |
 Sorta Like a Rock Star Matthew Quick |
 Jesse Gary Soto |
 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck |
 American Born Chinese Gene Yuan Yang |
 Dust Girl Sarah Zettel |
Nonfiction
 FDR’s Alphabet Soup Tonya Bolden |
 Strike! The Farm Workers’ Fight For Their Rights Larry Dane Brimmer |
 The Boys in the Boat Daniel Brown |
 The Great American Dust Bowl Don Brown |
 Breaking Through Francisco Jimenez |
 Reaching Out Francisco Jimenez |
 Taking Hold Francisco Jimenez |
 This Land Was Made For You and Me Elizabeth Patridge |
 Children of the Dust Bowl Jerry Stanley |
 Vietnamerica G.B. Tran |
Juvenile Books
Fiction
 Inside Out and Back Again Thanha Lai |
 A Year Down Yonder Richard Peck |
 First Day in Grapes L. King Perez |
 The Storm in the Barn Matt Phelan |
 Let the Circle Be Unbroken Mildred D. Taylor |
 Return to Sender Julia Alvarez |
 The Ballad of Lucy Whipple Karen Cushman |
 Nory Ryan’s Song Patricia Reilly Giff |
 Brooklyn Bridge Karen Hesse |
 Out of the Dust Karen Hesse |
 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor |
Nonfiction
 A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez David Adler |
 What’s in the Garden Marianne Collins Berkes |
 Side by Side/Lado a Lado Monica Brown |
 California: a history for kids Katy Duffield |
 The Vegetables We Eat Gail Gibbons |
 The Circuit Francisco Jimenez |
 Harvesting Hope Kathleen Krull |
 The Dust Bowl Through the Lens Martin W. Sandler |
 How Does a Seed Sprout? Melissa Stewart |
 Dolores Huerta Sarah Warren |
 Gordon Parks Carole Boston Weatherford |
Picture Books
 Two White Rabbits Jairo Buitrago |
 Going Home Eve Bunting |
 Pop’s Bridge Eve Bunting |
 Barnyard Banter Denise Fleming |
 Gathering the Sun Ada Alma Flor |
 Elephant Quilt Susan Lowell |
 Go, Go, Grapes April Pulley Sayre |
 Timmerman was Here Colleen Syder |
 Migrant Maxine Trottier |
Books In Spanish
 Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English Alma Flor Ada |
 César : sí, se puede! yes, we can! Carmen Bernier-Grand |
 Me llamo Celia : la vida de Celia Cruz Monica Brown |
 Tito Puente : Rey del Mambo Monica Brown |
 Más allá de mí Francisco Jimenez |
 Senderos fronterizos Francisco Jimenez |
 Book fiesta! Celebremos el día de los niños/el día de los libros Pat Moro |
 Esperanza Renace Pam Munoz Ryan |
 Nuestra California Pam Munoz Ryan |
Recommended Viewing
 The Dust Bowl Ken Burns (PBS) |
 Grapes of Wrath |
 Seabiscuit |
 Seabiscuit (PBS documentary) |
 The Sting |
 Surviving the Dust Bowl |
 Water for Elephants |
Recommended Listening
 Pete Seeger sings Woody Guthrie |
Worried man blues the best of Woody Guthrie |
Websites of Interest
Calisphere: Hispanic Americans: Migrant Workers and Braceros
The Dorothea Lange Archive – The Oakland Museum of California
Dorothea Lange Collection – University of Washington
The Dust Bowl by Ken Burns: Photo Gallery
The New York Public Library Digital Collections: Farm Security Administration Photos
Library eResources of Interest
SHARE THIS:
