Durbin, William. The journal of C.J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl migrant; Oklahoma to California, 1935.

(Dear America, My Name is America). Scholastic. 169p. illus. c2002. 0-439-15306-9. $10.95. J

It's hard to compete with Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust as the definitive YA novel about the Great Depression. Durbin does a good job of creating a readable account of one boy's record of his family's experiences as they are forced to leave their failing farm in Oklahoma and as they travel by car to California, where they find jobs until they can return home. There are parallels to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, of course. The diary begins dramatically as C.J. gets a snakebite and his family moves quickly to save his life. C.J. is nearly a man, and has a man's responsibilities within his family: to work hard; to help his father with the driving when they start on the road; to earn money and protect his mother and younger siblings. As is true of the series, a segment of photographs from the 1930s and an historical note help YA readers understand the era and its challenges. I believe that readers from Oklahoma and California, whose families have experienced this story for themselves some generations back, will enjoy this account the most.