Ruby’s Hope by Monica Kulling and Saraha Dvojack

Ruby’s Hope : a Story How the Famous “Migrant Mother” Photograph Became the Face of the Great Depression by Monica Kulling, illustrated by Saraha Dvojack.  PICTURE BOOK. Page Street Kids, 2019.  $18.  9781624148187

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

When the land becomes blowing sand, Ruby and her family pack all that they own and head to California to follow the crops that need picking. WHen they are eking out barely a life in a camp with a makeshift tent, they are approached by a woman who wants to take their picture.  Little do they know that the photograph will become an icon.

Kulling has imagined the lives and circumstances leading up to the photograph, making this fiction instead of non-fiction.  Nonetheless, it is a valuable look at the Dust Bowl, migrant farm workers, the Great Depression, Dorothea Lange, and the work of photography to capture important moments. Any class that covers any of these topics should have this on their shelves. I would also pair this with Migrant mother: : how a photograph defined the Great Depression by Don Nardo, which is an excellent non-fiction look at this same photograph.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS