The Dust Bowl

by David Booth, Karen Reczuch (Illustrator)

Looking out the farmhouse window, Matthew's grandfather tells him about the Big Dry of the 1930s, which turned golden wheat fields into a dust bowl. Fifty years later, another drought is upon them and, once again, this prairie family clings to the hope of seeing their land green. Evocative illustrations capture life on the prairies in this powerful story of one family's determination to hold on to its farm.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Picture Books, United States

32 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1996

About the author

David Wallace Booth is a professor of education who specializes in the teaching of literacy and the use of innovative ways to promote literacy among children.

He is the author of many books for teachers and parents, texts for classroom use, and award winning children's picture books.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good historical fiction for young schoolchildren. The art made the setting come alive, so immersive. Reminded me of some by Eve Bunting. Three generations of farmers. No women left....

LFL find.

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book with nice illustrations.

[Zach Naegele · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story Mathew listens as his grandfather tells of life during the Dust Bowl. Grandfather talks about how the farms were full of wheat and they were very prosperous. Suddenly the rain stopped and the heat of the sun burnt all the crops. Just as things began to get better, swarms of grasshoppers came, and they would eat the entire crop. Many people loaded up their families and moved away. But grandfather stayed and toughed through the hard times. Finally the rain came back, and the grasshoppers stopped coming, and the farm was prosperous again. Now it was dry again, but grandfather assured Mathew that they could wait for the rain, if it didn’t come this year, then it would come the next.

[Haileymurrayrocketmail.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerfully written book with beautiful descriptive language and strong central themes of family. The three generations of men living on the farm and finding their love of each other and their love of the land gives a personal side to this narrative of a historical event. When the grandfather tell about the dust bowl he is not just telling yet another account of this tragic time but is giving advice, demonstrating how he persevered, and providing wisdom. This book helps students see how looking at life through different historical events can help us understand the trials we are currently going through.

[Katie Quayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a good book to read while going over the Great Depression in a 2nd or 3rd grade classroom. It talks about the Great Depression through the eyes of a farmer, specifically talking about the Dust Bowl. It would be a good story to base a Scottish story line off of, as we could "create" the dust bowl in our classroom and experience the Great Depression ourselves. It would also be a good idea to read books or look up documents from that time period and see it from primary source documents and other perspectives, to see how it was like for business men, or people living in the slums in a city, or people in the suburbs.

[Lucia Benzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made a great connection in the beginning about what life is like now and what was experienced in the past. Makes what happened more real and possible today. Gave good details as to what happened. Good illustrations. A text to use to introduce the Dust Bowl and the 1930s. Maybe one for kids to read instead of Out of the Dust for less capable readers that still need information on the Dust Bowl.

[Jamal Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of the book is in a big black font. There's a man and a boy on the cover. When you open the cover there's a description of the book on the inside.

This book is basically about how during the depression people who lived on the prairie lands or out in the country went through these dust storms. These storms would ruin crops and were dangerous if you were exposed to it.

[Yates Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dust Bowl
Great book about the struggles of a family
Good for talking about different types of families (book had grandfather, son, and grandson.)
Discuses problems during the Dust Bowl and what happened during this time.

[Jayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A picture book about a boy named Matthew who lives on a family farm. A drought leads Matthew’s grandpa to tell him about the last drought they suffered through during the 1930’s and the hope they had to hold on to in order to survive.

[Laila Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

In “The Dust Bowl” by David Booth, a young boy named Mathew sits and listens to his grandfather tell the story of his experience with the Dust Bowl. Mathew, his father and his grandfather are currently experiencing a dust storm. Fed up, Mathew’s father wants to sell the farm for he believes that they simply are not producing enough crops to create a stable income. Unhappy with his son’s reason for wanting to sell their farm, Mathew’s grandfather talks to him about how he and his grandmother survive the great dust bowl. Through years of dust, crop failure, and grasshopper invasions, Mathew’s grandfather and grandmother stayed strong and kept their farm. While many other farmers sold their farms and headed west, Mathew’s grandparents believed in their farm and mother nature and continued to care for their farm. With the birth of Mathew’s father, Mathew’s grandparents felt that they had to stay and make the farm a success for their son. Eventually the dust storm and the invasive grasshoppers passed along and, Mathew’s grandparents were able to produce crops once again. “The Dust Bowl” concludes with Mathew’s father agreeing with Mathew’s grandfather to keep their farm.
The popular historical event that is the main focus of the book “The Dust Bowl” is the great drought that occurred in the great plains during the 1930’s. Some important background knowledge that was important for understanding why the great dust bowl occurred was mention in the story by Mathew’s grandpa. Mathew’s grandpa stated that many people moved out to the midwest in hopes of farming for farming wheat was like planting gold at the time. Unfortunately the land was overworked which in turn caused a great drought and dust storm to occur. The historical characters present within the book are accurately portrayed. During the great dust bowl, there were many farmers who abandoned their farms and headed west while some farmers elected to not abandoned their farms. In the book “The Dust Bowl”, Mathew’s grandfather represents a farmer who did not abandon his farm while the secondary characters in the book who were farmers represented the farmers who did abandon their farms. Finally a great insight that the author revealed about the Dust Bowl was some famers determination to stick by their farms during the great dust storm. Most stories about the great dust storm only speak about the negativity that the storm caused but, this author spoke about the positives that came from the great storm. For example there was the strengthening of family bonds for those families that did stand by their farms.
One of the biggest visual elements that can be seen in the book “The Dust Bowl” is the color light brown. The color orange represents warmth while the color black represents darkness. The light brown color present throughout the entire book is used to represent the oppressive dust storms that occur within the book. The light brown used is a mixture of both orange and black which means that when the dust was present within the book, the dust gives a presence of darkness and warmth. Another big color that is used throughout the story “The Dust Bowl” is the color green. The color green represents nature and peacefulness when present throughout the book. The color green represents nature in the beginning of the book when Mathew’s grandfather and grandmother first start working on their farm. In the middle of the book, the color green represents peacefulness when hard earned planted crops bloom for just a while. Finally heavy diagonals lines are heavily used throughout the book to represent the movement of the harsh dust storms.

[Daniela 4-7]

This is a good book. It talks about what happened to someones farm during the time where there was dust storms.