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Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
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| Book | Searching... Cabell County Public Library | JF-SETS | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Chapmanville Public Library | JF | Searching... Unknown | |
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Summary
Summary
In another compelling entry from criticially-acclaimed author William Durbin, we meet C.J. Jackson, a young farmer whose family is forced to abandon their farm and seek a new life in California.
April 10, 1935
The dust has been blowing bad for several years in a row now. And with crop failures coming back to back like they have, hundreds of families have lost their farms. A Monday never passes without Sheriff Jake Allison posting a notice of foreclosure at the Boise City courthouse. Times are so rough, that when they hold an auction to sell a place, the only people that show up are the banks and the insurance companies. Nobody else has a nickel.
C.J. Jackson is a young man living through one of the most tragic times in the Dust Bowl of an America fraught with political, economic, and environmental problems. In this intense journal of life in the Oklahoma panhandle, C.J. tells it like it is-and it is bad.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-The Jacksons 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. A historical note and a selection of captioned, black-and-white photos round out the book. While this novel lacks the power and eloquence of Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust (Scholastic, 1997), C. J. is an authentic and likable protagonist. 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. It's likely that readers' curiosity will be piqued enough to learn more about the Depression, and that they will have a greater appreciation for John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath when they encounter it.-Ronni Krasnow, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
In his journal, thirteen-year-old C.J. Jackson writes of his farm family's experiences traveling from Oklahoma to California in 1935. The narrative gives a vivid picture of the grim life of Dust Bowl migrants: looking for back-breaking, low-wage work, living in Hooverville camps, and coping with prejudice. Accompanied by archival black-and-white photos, an afterword offers additional historical information. From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
