Historical Fiction: The Great Depression

[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.]

Lower Grades (K-3)

1. Angels in the Dust-Raven (4.2/0.5)
2. The Babe and I-Adler (3.2/0.5)
3. Born and Bred in the Great Depression-Winter (no level)
4. Don’t Forget Winona-Peterson (2.8/0.5)
5. The Dust Bowl-Booth (3.8/0.5)
6. Dust for Dinner-Turner (2.4/0.5)
7. Finding Daddy-Harper (no level)
8. The Gardener-Stewart (3.9/0.5)
9. Hannah’s Way-Glaser (2.4/0.5)
10. Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth-Burleigh (2.0/0.5)
11. Lucky Beans-Birtha (4.0/0.5)
12. The Lucky Star-Young (4.6/0.5)
13. The Man Who Walked the Earth-Wallace (3.4/0.5)
14. Mimmy and Sophie All Around Town-Cohen (2.9/0.5)
15. My Heart Will Not Sit Down-Rockliff (4.4/0.5)
16. Nobody Owns the Sky-Lindbergh (3.8/0.5)
17. Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression-Lied (3.0/0.5)
18. Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story-Mackall (4.3/0.5)
19. Saving Strawberry Farm-Hopkinson (3.4/0.5)
20. Sky Boys-Hopkinson (5.0/0.5)
21. What You Know First-MacLachlan (3.3/0.5)

Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Agnes May Gleason-Duey (4.9/4)
2. Al Capone Shines My Shoes-Choldenko (3.8/9)
3. Anna’s Fight for Hope: The Great Depression-Grote (4.1/5)
4. Aunt Mary in the Granary and Other Prairie Stories-Comstock (6.9/8)
5. Bad Times, Big Crimes-Keene (4.0/4)
6. The Barn Burner-Willis (4.9/6)
7. The Best Bad Thing-Uchida (4.9/4)
8. Bird in a Box-Pinkney (4.2/6)
9. Black Duck-Lisle (4.8/8)
10. Blue Willow-Gates (6.5/6)
11. Blind Bess, Buddy, and Me-Tolliver (4.0/3)
12. Borrowed Children-Lyon (3.6/4)
13. The Bread Winner-Whitmore (4.1/5)
14. Bud, Not Buddy-Curtis (5.0/8)*
15. The Castaways: A Graphic Novel-Vollmar (3.6/1)
16. Cat Running-Snyder (5.6/7)
17. Children of the Great Depression-Freedman (7.5/2) NF
18. Chig and the Second Spread-Swain (5.5/6)
19. The Circuit-Jimenez (5.3/4)
20. A City Tossed and Broken: The Diary of Minnie Bonner-Blundell (5.3/6)
21. Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky-Appelt (6.4/1) NF
22. Dust-Slade (4.6/6)
23. Echo-Ryan (4.9/13)
24. Empire Dreams-Wax (4.5/3)
25. Esperanza Rising-Ryan* (5.3/6)
26. Family Tree: Better to Wish-Martin (4.7/7)
27. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Letters from a Mill Town Girl-Winthrop (6.2/4)
28. Frenchtown Summer-Cormier (6.4/1)
29. Ghost Girl: A Blue Ridge Mountain Story-Ray (5.4/7)
30. The Gold Train Bandits-Roddy (5.1/7)
31. Goldie’s Fortune: A Story of the Great Depression-Holub (3.4/2)
32. Growing Up in the Great Depression: 1929 to 1941-Ruth (5.9/1) NF
33. Hard Times: A Story of the Great Depression-Antle (3.4/1)
34. Hear That Whistle Blow-Schraff (5.0/3)
35. High Country Ambush-Roddy (5.1/7)
36. Intruders at Rivermead Manor: A Kit Mystery-Reiss (4.9/4)
37. A Jar of Dreams-Uchida (5.0/4)
38. The Journal of C. J. Jackson: A Dust Bowl Migrant-Durbin (5.7/5)
39. Kit Learns a Lesson: A School Story-Tripp (4.5/2)
40. Kit’s Home Run-Tripp (3.9/0.5)
41. Kit’s Tree House-Tripp (4.6/1)
42. Kit Saves the Day: A Summer Story-Tripp (4.4/1)
43. Leaving Gee’s Bend-Latham (4.5/7)
44. A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt-DeYoung (4.7/3)
45. A Long Way from Chicago-Peck (5.0/5)
46. The Luck of the Buttons-Ylvisaker (4.5/4)
47. Meet Kit, an American Girl-Tripp (4.5/2)
48. The Mighty Miss Malone-Curtis (4.7/10)
49. The Miner’s Daughter-Laskas (5.5/9)
50. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan-Denenberg (6.0/4)
51. Moon Over Manifest-Vanderpool (5.3/12)
52. No Small Victory-Crook (4.5/8)
53. Nothing Is for Free-Sorenson (3.0/2)
54. Nowhere to Call Home-DeFelice (5.3/7)
55. On the Blue Comet-Wells (4.7/8.0)
56. Out of the Dust-Hesse* (5.3/3)
57. The Overland Escape-Roddy (4.8/7)
58. Poor Is Just a Starting Place-Wyatt (5.1/5)
59. Pop Bottles-Roberts (4.1/2)
60. A Prairie Boy’s Summer-Kurelek (5.6/1)
61. A Prairie Boy’s Winter-Kurelek (5.7/1)
62. Purely Rosie Pearl-Cochrane (5.2/5)
63. R My Name Is Rachel-Giff (3.7/4)
64. Really Truly Ruthie-Tripp (5.2/2)
65. Red-Dirt Jessie-Myers (4.2/3)
66. The Rescue Adventure of Stenny Green, Hindenburg Crash Eyewitness-Ransom (2.9/0.5)
67. Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange-Partridge (7.0/3)* NF
68. Risky Chance-Hart (4.2/2)
69. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry-Taylor (5.7/10)
70. Rosa Takes a Chance: Mexican Immigrants in the Dust Bowl Years-Miller (4.2/5)
71. Rose’s Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression-Moss (4.8/1)
72. Saving Grace-Cummings (4.9/8)
73. Secret Signs-Guest (4.9/3)
74. The Sky Is Falling-Corcoran (4.4/7)
75. The Spirit Catchers: An Encounter with Georgia O’Keeffe-Kudlinski (4.4/6)
76. The Storm in the Barn-Phelan (2.3/0.5) (Graphic Novel)
77. Strawberry Hill-Hoberman (3.8/5)
78. Summer on the Run-Belgue (4.0/3)
79. Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards-Janke (6.4/6)
80. Tennyson-Blume (5.1/7)
81. Tough Times-Meltzer (4.5/6)
82. The Train Jumper-Brown (4.3/4)
83. Treasures in the Dust-Porter (5.3/4)
84. The Truth About Sparrows-Hale (5.0/8)
85. Turkey John-Whitworth (5.5/7)
86. Turtle in Paradise-Holm (3.7/4)
87. What the Moon Said-Rosengren (4.2/7)
88. Who’s Jim Hines-Elster (3.8/3)
89. William S. and the Great Escape-Snyder (5.6/7)
90. Winter Cottage-Brink (no level)
91. The Wonder of Charlie Anne-Fusco (4.7/8)
92. The Worst of Times: A Story of the Great Depression-Collier (4.8/5)
93. A Year Down Yonder-Peck (4.5/4)
94. A Year in the Life of Rosie Bernard-Brenner (no level)
95. The Year of the Sawdust Man-LaFaye (4.6/10)
96. Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl-Marrin (7.4/4) NF

Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. Dust Girl-Zettel (4.6/10)
2. Hitch-Ingold (5.1/8)
3. A Time of Troubles-Van Raven (4.1/6)

Upper Grades(9-12)

1. Airfield-Ingold (5.2/5)
2. The Boxcar Kid-Miller (no level) (graphic content)
3. Duane’s Depressed-McMurtry (6.5/22)
4. Extra Innings-Peck (5.4/5)
5. The Grapes of Wrath-Steinbeck (4.9/25) Also a movie.
6. Her Father’s Daughter-Poupeney (4.8/8)
7. Jim the Boy-Earley (5.1/7)
8. No Promises in the Wind-Hunt (5.6/8)
9. Nothing to Fear-Koller (4.2/8)
10. A Place to Belong-Crofford (5.3/4)
11. Seabiscuit: An American Legend-Hillenbrand* (7.5/21) (great depression to 1957) Also a movie.
12. A Shell for Angela-Lachtman (4.8/10)
13. Six Days in October-Blumenthal (7.9/5) NF
14. Young Lonigan-Farrell (5.7/10)

Photo Courtesy of Arthur Rothstein