The Journal of C. J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935 (My Name Is America) [Hardcover]

William Durbin (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: My Name Is America

In another compelling entry from criticially-acclaimed author William Durbin, we meet C.J. Jackson, a young farmer whose family is forced to abandon their farm and seek a new life in California.

April 10, 1935

The dust has been blowing bad for several years in a row now. And with crop failures coming back to back like they have, hundreds of families have lost their farms. A Monday never passes without Sheriff Jake Allison posting a notice of foreclosure at the Boise City courthouse. Times are so rough, that when they hold an auction to sell a place, the only people that show up are the banks and the insurance companies. Nobody else has a nickel.

C.J. Jackson is a young man living through one of the most tragic times in the Dust Bowl of an America fraught with political, economic, and environmental problems. In this intense journal of life in the Oklahoma panhandle, C.J. tells it like it is-and it is bad.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-The Jacksons live in the epicenter of the worst dust storm in American history, so they are forced to abandon their beloved farm and make the arduous journey to California in search of work. The teen chronicles the discrimination, disappointment, and hardship that thousands of "Okies" endured. A historical note and a selection of captioned, black-and-white photos round out the book. While this novel lacks the power and eloquence of Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust (Scholastic, 1997), C. J. is an authentic and likable protagonist. Durbin effectively conveys the plight of Dust Bowl families, from the horrendous conditions in the camps to the demeaning and demanding life of a migrant worker. It's likely that readers' curiosity will be piqued enough to learn more about the Depression, and that they will have a greater appreciation for John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath when they encounter it.
Ronni Krasnow, New York Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 169 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.; 1 edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439153069
• ISBN-13: 978-0439153065
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Durbin is an award-winning author and a former teacher who lives at the edge of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness. A winner of the Great Lakes Book Award and a two-time winner of the Minnesota Book award, Mr. Durbin has published eleven novels for young readers. His novel El Lector was optioned for film by Jane Startz Productions; and his most recent work, The Winter War, deals with Stalin's invasion of Finland in 1939. His other honors include a Junior Library Guild Selection, Bank Street College Children's Book of Year list, the ALA's Amelia Bloomer list, New York Library Books for the Teen Age list, Maud Hart Lovelace nomination, Jefferson Cup Series of Note Award, America's Award commended title, and a Book Sense Summer Pick.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great supplemental source for studying history, September 29, 2004

By 

Amanda Porick "Mandie Porick" (Wheaton, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Journal of C. J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935 (My Name Is America) (Hardcover)

I never knew I liked historical fiction until I started reading the "My name is America" series. This book does an excellent job of putting the reader into the life of a 13 year old boy who is trying to be a kid, but trying to help his parents with all their worries during the depression and a drought hitting his farming community.

Complete with a foldout map outlining the journey across the plains, this book does a good job of explaining what the historical, cultural, and political views of the time were and how they affect the lives of the migrant workers as they arrive in California.

The epilogue of the book shows historical photos and documents from the time giving the reader a real feel for the actual lives of those who lived through this desperate hour of American history.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare historical treat., September 16, 2003

By 

MAB (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journal of C. J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935 (My Name Is America) (Hardcover)

"The Journal of C. J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935" is such a great book, because I doubt many people know about the dust bowl in Oklahoma. I surely didn't, and I learned a great deal while reading this. I would have never thought that American's would discriminate American's, by calling Oklahoma residents "Okies." But, it's not much different today, if you stop and think about it. That just stuck out in my mind while reading it. The entrees were realistic (although it made me wonder, with C.J. being only 13-years-old, and with minimal schooling, how he could have written so well), and easy to read. You'll walk away with a greater sense of early American history. I recommend.

5.0 out of 5 stars Gut-level Strory, August 29, 2011

By 

Rockin' Ricky - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journal of C. J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935 (My Name Is America) (Hardcover)

As a musician who tours at least 200 days out of every year and spends time in the studio when I'm not on the road, I find that if I don't keep a number of interesting books with me on the road, my brain completely turns to mush.

One of the books I read recently was The Happy Immortals, a great novel set partially in the Dust Bowl years.

I'd traveled through and flown over the Oklahoma Panhandle many times, but didn't know a lot about the area or what this land had gone through.

Anyway, the interest from that novel led to a search for more fiction and historical books about the Dust Bowl, including this one.

It's unforgettable. You can't read this book without understanding better what the Okies of the "dirty thirties" went through.

Kudos to William Durbin for a job well done!

BTW, two more excellent historical books on the Dust Bowl and the Oklahoma Panhandle are Letters from the Dust Bowl, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, and Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. All are definitely worth the time.

Rock on!