1930's

KEY: jP = Picture Books; jZ = 1st and 2nd Grade Readers; jE = 3rd and 4th Grade Readers; JF = 5th Grade and Up

1930's

updated May 2015

Picture Books

Friedrich, Elizabeth LEAH'S PONY
A young girl sells her horse and raises enough money to buy back her father's tractor, which is up for auction, in this story of a Depression era farm. 		1996 unpaged

High, Linda THE GIRL ON THE HIGH-DIVING HORSE
The spun-candy-and-sea-spray world of the Atlantic City boardwalk of the 1930s comes alive once again in the powerful artistry of Ted Lewin and the nostalgic story of a young girl who dreams of being the rider of the high-diving horse. 1936. 		2003 unpaged

Myers, Anna TUMBLEWEED BABY
Long ago in Nowhere, Texas, Mama and Papa Upagainsit agree to take in the wild baby their five children find in a passing tumbleweed, despite the objections of the one who used to be "the littlest-of-all girl." 		2014 unpaged

Peterson, Jeanne Whitehouse DON'T FORGET WINONA
A young girl describes her family's experiences-and her younger sister's antics - when a drought forces them to make their wayon Route 66 from Oklahoma to California.		 2004 unpaged

Rubel, David THE CARPENTER'S GIFT
A Christmas Tale About the Rockefeller Center Tree
In Depression-era New York City, construction workers at the Rockefeller Center site help a family in need - a gift that is repaid years later in the donation of an enormous Christmas tree. 		2011 unpaged

1st and 2nd Grade Books

3rd and 4th Grade Books

Arrington, Frances STELLA'S BULL
Set during the Great Depression, Mary Wilson hears tales of a fearsome bull and blows the stories up in her mind until she finally meets the bull face to face.		 1994 unpaged

Breathed, Berke RED RANGER CAME CALLING
A Guaranteed True Christmas Story
While spending Christmas in 1939 with a well-meaning aunt, a young boy who does not believe in Santa Claus has an unusual experience that changes his thinking.		 1994 unpaged

Fitz-Gibbon, Sally TREE OF HOPE
1931. After Lizzie is left orphaned, she is sent to live with her aunt and uncle on the dusty 1930s prairie farm a continent away from London. She doesn't fit in until she must do something to rescue her aunt in a dust storm. 		2003 67 p.

Joyce, William BUDDY
1930's. Gertrude Lintz, a New York socialite who believes that animals should not be caged, raises a gorilla named Buddy and reluctantly realizes that he is not suited for city life. 		1997 47 p.

Littlesugar, Amy TREE OF HOPE
The Lafayette Theater once "shone out over the streets of Harlem like a star." In the 1930s, it was deserted and boarded-up until a Harlem-style version of MACBETH was staged, and the theater lived once more. 		2001 40 p.

Moss, Marissa MIGHTY JACKIE
THE STRIKE-OUT QUEEN
Accompanied by vibrant, larger-than-life illustrations, Moss tells the inspiring but little-known true story of a seventeen-year-old female pitcher who struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during an exhibition game in 1931. 		2004 32 p.

Patrick, Jean THE GIRL WHO STRUCK OUT BABE RUTH
Accompanied by vibrant, larger-than-life illustrations, Moss tells the inspiring but little-known true story of a seventeen-year-old female pitcher who struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during an exhibition game in 1931. 		2000 48 p.

Peterson, Jeanne DON'T FORGET WINONA
An older sister tells the story of the family's trip from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. When the family forgets the little sister Winona on a pit stop, the older sister realizes how much she loves her sister. 		2004 unpaged

Ransom, Candice FIRE IN THE SKY
More than losing at marbles, worrying about his relatives in Germany, or hearing his favorite radio hero, Jack Armstrong, 9-year-old Stenny Green is focused on getting to see the Hindenburg when it lands near his home in Lakehurst, New Jersey, May. 		1997 70 p.

Tripp, Valerie CHANGES FOR KIT
The American Girls Collection
When cranky Uncle Hendrick comes to stay with Kit's family, Kit is less than enthusiastic. With his gruff orders to Kit and fiery letters to the newspaper editor, Uncle Hendrick has even Kit losing hope for better times. 		2001 70 p.

Tripp, Valerie HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIT
A SPRINGTIME STORY
The American Girls Collection
On a visit to Cincinnati from rural Kentucky during the Great Depression, Aunt Millie impresses Kit with her money-saving cleverness. Includes factual information on life in America during that era. 		2001 67 p.

Tripp, Valerie KIT LEARNS A LESSON
A School Story
The American Girls Collection
In 1932 Kit finds that she has hard lessons to learn about the Depression, both at home, where she is hleping her mother run a boarding house while her father looks for a new job, and at school, where a fight spoils the preparations for the Thanksgiving pageant.		 2000 60 p.

Tripp, Valerie KIT SAVES THE DAY
A SUMMER STORY
The American Girls Collection
When a young hobo named Will stops to work in the Kittredge's garden in exchange for a meal, he tells Kit about life on the road. Kit is determined to visit "the jungle," but when she does, she gets more than she bargained for! 		2001 68 p.

Tripp, Valerie KIT'S HOME RUN
American Girls Short Stories
In 1933 Cincinnati, Kit is an enthusiastic baseball player whose home run slide has surpirising consequences. Includes historical notes on major league baseball and the Cincinnati Reds in the 1930's and provides ideas for decorating a baseball hat. 		2002 35 p.

Tripp, Valerie KIT'S SURPRISE
A Christmas Story
The American Girls Collection
In 1932, Kit faces a very different christmas because of her family's financial problems and allows her pride to estrange her from her best friend.		 2000 65 p.

Tripp, Valerie MEET KIT
An American Girl
The American Girls Collection
When her father's business closes and her family is forced to make changes because of the Great Depression, 9-year-old Kit responds with resourcefulness.		 2000 59 p.

5th Grade and Up

Abraham, Susan CECILIA'S YEAR
Nearly fourteen and poor, Ceclia Gonzales wants desperately to go to high school and become a teacher until her mother's old-fashioned ideas about a woman's place threaten her dreams. 		2004 210 p.

Abraham, Susan SURPRISING CECILIA
In this sequel to CECILIA'S YEAR, Cecilia begins high school and must contend with life in the Rio Grande Valley. 		2005 221 p.

Ernst, Kathleen DANGER AT THE ZOO
A Kit Mystery
American Girl
While working as a reporter during her summer vacation in 1935, Kit uncovers a mystery at the Cincinnati Zoo involving suspected break-ins at the monkey house. 		2005 180 p.

Ernst, Kathleen MIDNIGHT IN LONESOME HOLLOW
A Kit Mystery
American Girl
While staying with Aunt Millie in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky in the summer of 1934, Kit tries to discover who is sabotaging a visiting folklore researcher. 		2007 178 p.

Bryant, Jen THE TRIAL
Living in Flemington, New Jersey, in 1935, twelve-year-old Katie Leigh Flynn describes, in poems, the effect on her small town of the ongoing trial of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby son. 		2004 168 p.

Choldenko, Gennifer AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister. 		2004 214 p.

Cummings, Priscilla SAVING GRACE
The year is 1932 and the McFarland family has been hit hard by the Great Depression. When they lose their home just before Christmas, eleven-year-old Grace and her two younger brothers are sent to a children's home run by a mission. 		2003 240 p.

Curtis, Christopher Paul THE MIGHTY MISS MALONE
1936. With love and determination befitting the "world's greatest family," twelve-year-old Deza Malone, her older brother Jimmie, and their parents endure tough times in Gary, Indiana, and later Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression.		 2012 297 p.

Deneberg, Barry MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL
In 1932, 1 12-year-old girl who lost her sight in an accident keeps a diary, recorded by her twin sister, in which she describes life at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.		 2002 116 p.

Hale, Marian THE TRUTH ABOUT SPARROWS
When twelve-year-old Sadie leaves her home in drought-stricken Missouri, she promises her friend Wilma that she will always be her best friend. Once she and her family get to Texas though, Sadie learns that she must make new friends. 1933.		 2004 260 p.

Henderson, Aileen HARD TIMES FOR JAKE SMITH
In 1935 Alabama, when 12-year-old MaryJake is abandoned by her financially strapped parents and told to walk to the house of unknown relatives, she dresses like a boy and joins the household of an old widow before discovering secrets about her own family.		 2004 184 p.

Heyes, Eileen O'DWYER & GRADY STARRING IN TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW
When child actors Billy O'Dwyer and Virginia Grady set out to locate a missing treasure, they find themselves center stage in a family drama of rivalry and deceit. (O'Dwyer and Grady Starring In) series. New Bedford, MA., 1932.		 2003 134 p.

Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie IF WISHES WERE HORSES
On a small Vermont farm in 1932, 12-year-old Lily constantly argues with her older sister, Emily. They fight about everything. 		2000 131 p.

Lutz, Norma MANDY THE OUTSIDER
Prelude to World War II
Sisters in Timeseries
Just before World War II, Mandy is torn between making unpopular friendships and living the Christian life. 		2004 142 p.

Miller, Susan ROSA TAKES A CHANCE
Sisters in Time series
10 year old Rosa dreams of a good education - but in the Dust Bowl of 1935, will she be able to live her dream? 		2006 140 p.

Myers, Anna SPOTTING THE LEOPARD
In the late 1930's, H.J. Harper is intent on finding a way to help his sister study to become a veterinarian and on tracking down a leopard that has escaped from the zoo in Oklahoma City.		 1996 146 p.

Nuzum, K. A. THE LENIN' DOG
In wintry Colorado during the 1930s, eleven-year-old Dessa Dean mourns the death of her beloved mother, but the arrival of an injured dog and the friendship they form is just what they need to change their lives forever.		 2008 250 p.

Skolsky, Mindy Warshaw LOVE FROM YOUR FRIEND, HANNAH
From her home in back of the Grand View Restaurant in rural New York, Hannah writes letters to her best friend, a pen pal, and even to President and Mrs. Roosevelt.		 1998 244 p.

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley CAT RUNNING
When eleven-year-old Cat Kinsey builds a secret hideout to escape her unhappy home life, she slowly gets to know a poor family who have come to California after losing their Texas home to the dust storms of the 1930s. 		1996 168 p.

Taylor, Mildred LET THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
1934. Four black children living in rural Mississippi during the depression, experience racial prejudice and hard times, but, in order to survive, learn self-respect and pride from their parents.		 1981 394 p.

Taylor, Mildred MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE
1931. During a heavy rainstorm in 1930s rural Mississippi, a ten-year-old white boy sees a bus driver order all the black passengers off a crowded bus to make room for late-arriving white passengers and then set off across the raging Rosa Lee River.		 1990 62 p.

Taylor, Mildred ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand. 1933.		 1976 276 p.

Taylor, Mildred THE WELL
David's Story
Despite the racial prejudice and injustice of the South in the early 1900s, the Logans share their well water with both white and African-American people until it is poisoned by vicious neighbors.		 1995 92 p.

Taylor, Theodore THE BOY WHO COULD FLY WITHOUT A MOTOR
In 1935, living at a lighthouse near San Francisco, a lonely 9-year-old boy inadvertently summons a magician who teaches him the secret of flying.		 2002 138 p.

Whittaker, Dorothy ANGELS OF THE SWAMP
Taffy, a 15-year-old orphan, joins two boys who have been forced to leave their homes and the three of them try to survive the summer of 1932 on an island off the west coast of Florida.		 1992 209 p.

Willis, Patricia THE BARN BURNER
In 1933, while running from a bad situation at home and suspected of having set fire to a barn, 14-year-old Ross finds haven with a loving family, which helps him make an important decision.		 2000 198 p.