Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets The Great Depression (1929-1945)

The Last Man - Waiting Out the Dust Bowl The Great Depression (1929-1945)

---

The Last Man - Waiting Out the Dust Bowl
Print The Last Man - Waiting Out the Dust Bowl Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 7 to 9
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.66

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		drought-stricken, hundred-mile, mid-1930s, mid-thirties, refinance, repossess, determined, resilient, blight, destruction, blazed, contour, menace, voracious, starvation, needy
	content words:		Dust Bowl, One Texas, Man Club, Franklin D., Emergency Farm Mortgage Act, Farm Bankruptcy Act, Farm Credit Act, Drought Relief Service, Soil Conservation Service, Hugh H.

---

The Last Man - Waiting Out the Dust Bowl By Toni Lee Robinson

---

¹     In the mid-1930s, farmers in the midwestern U.S. had already endured a great deal. They had been through several years of drought and the dreaded black clouds of the dust storms. The voracious winds tore more precious topsoil from their fields each day.
 
²     The summer of '36 blazed its way into the record books as the hottest yet. One terrible black storm after another rolled over the land. With no crops and no income for several years, farm families struggled to feed themselves. Paying off mortgages was out of the question. People living in the Dust Bowl began to lose hope.
 
³     "Sheriff's Sale" signs appeared at the doors of those who could no longer make payments. These families saw their homes and land taken by the banks and their belongings auctioned off to the highest bidder. One family after another loaded up what little they had and drove away. Shattered dreams and broken hearts fluttered in the dust behind them. The area lost one quarter of its people.
 
⁴     But many were determined to stick it out in the Dust Bowl. One Texas newspaper editor started the "Last Man Club," urging Midwesterners to hang on. Each of those who took up his challenge vowed to be the last man to leave and to help others hold on as well. In the end, three quarters of the resilient Plains people dug in and endured.

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on The Last Man - Waiting Out the Dust Bowl

Leave your feedback on The Last Man - Waiting Out the Dust Bowl   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

The Great Depression
(1929-1945)

The Great Depression (1929-1945)

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

---

United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

---

United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

---

50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

---

Document Based Activities

Document Based Activities

Copyright © 2025 edHelper