ABOUT THIS BOOK

Illus. with photographs from the Dust Bowl era. This true story took place at the emergency farm-labor camp immortalized in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Ostracized as "dumb Okies," the children of Dust Bowl migrant laborers went without school--until Superintendent Leo Hart and 50 Okie kids built their own school in a nearby field.


REVIEWS

"The story is inspiring, and Stanley has recorded the details with passion and dignity. An excellent curriculum item."--(starred) Booklist.   


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

* Jerry Stanley was born in Highland Park, Michigan in 1941.  When he was seventeen years old, he joined the air force and was stationed in California, where he has lived ever since.

* Once out of the air force, Jerry went to college, during which time he supported himself as a rock-'n'-roll drummer on the weekends.  He received both his master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Arizona.  

* Jerry is now is a professor of history at California State University in Bakersfield, where he teaches courses on the American West, the American Indian, and California history.  In addition to his children's books, Jerry is the author of numerous articles for both scholarly journals and popular magazines.

* Among Jerry's hobbies are bowling, racquetball, fishing, drumming, and writing humor.  He and his wife, Dorothy, have four children and live in Bakersfield, CA.  


AWARDS

WINNER 1992 - Jefferson Cup Award
WINNER 1992 - Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice
WINNER 1993 - Maine Student Book Master List
WINNER 1992 - Western Writers of America Golden Spur Award
WINNER 1993 - NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children