[VOA]

High school books I was forced to read, and still think are stupid
in my adulthood:
...
3. Grapes of Wrath. Depressing and pointless.

Yes, depressing and pointless.

Unless you have family members that lived in Depression-AND-
Dustbowl-Era Oklahoma.
(I'll not mention the economic devastation in Colorado, Kansas, Texas,
and other adjoining states as I have no family in those areas that
experienced the Great Depression and Dust Bowl eras.)

This is when about 50% of the population of Oklahoma left
OK in order to avoid impoverishment. Or even starvation.

I don't agree with all of Steinbeck's outlook in the book.
BUT, when you've worked hard for decades, your farm is repossesed
in an major economic downturn, and you have to hit the road in
1920-1930's used cars/trucks...
things might look a bit different.

As much as I disdain today's Democratic-Socialists...
and as ineffective/dangerous as some of FDR's programs were...
it's amazing the USA didn't blow up or turn into a North-American
version of the USSR.

[Fiji Hill]

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic 1997) is about an Oklahoma family living in the Panhandle--ground zero of the Dust Bowl--during 1935, the worst year of the drought. Despite incredible hardships, they decide to stay, unlike the characters in The Grapes of Wrath. Out of the Dust is a "young adult" book written in a poetic style. Unlike The Grapes of Wrath, it can be read in a couple of hours.

If you are looking for a good movie about the Dust Bowl, I would recommend "Under Western Stars" (1938), a musical starring Roy Rogers.