Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

The Mighty Miss Malone
Christopher Paul Curtis
Wendy Lamb Books
307 pg.


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.

R My Name Is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff

R My Name Is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff
Wendy Lamb Books
2011
166p.

Three city siblings, now living on a farm during the Great Depression, must survive on their own when their father takes a construction job miles away.

Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones

Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones
Farrar Strauss Giroux
2011
200p.

After the death of her mother in an automobile accident, seventh-grader Serena, who has gotten the lead in her middle school play, is left to handle the day-to-day challenges of caring for herself and her younger brother when their father cannot pull himself out of his depression.

Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Delacorte Press
2010
351 p.

Summary:  Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells

On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells

Candlewick Press
2010
329 p.


Summary:  When the Depression hits in Cairo, Illinois, and Oscar Ogilvie's father must sell their home and vast model train set-up to look for work in California, eleven-year-old Oscar is left with his dour aunt, where he befriends a mysterious drifter, witnesses a stunning bank robbery, and is suddenly catapulted onto a train that takes him to a different time and place.

The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco

The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco

Alfred A. Knopf
2010
266 p.

Summary:  In a 1930s Massachusetts farm town torn by the Depression, racial tension, and other hardships, Charlie Anne and her black next-door neighbor Phoebe form a friendship that begins to transform their community.