Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression.

The protagonist of the tale is a small child named Dorothy, whose family resides in the 1930s in Iowa. They lose their home, Dorothy's father loses jobs one after another, and out of sheer desperation, they decide to go potato picking in Idaho.

The desperate situation and difficult responsibilities that American families were suffering during the Depression are effectively shown by the author and illustrator (Lisa Campbell Ernst). Money and work were scarce, but hunger and need were everywhere. Both inflation and hopelessness were in full swing. But, Dorothy's family decided not to give up and went to Idaho to collect potatoes. Although it may not seem wise to do so now, Idaho had a plentiful supply of potatoes at the time.

The family toiled assiduously day and night, gathering enough potatoes to load the car for the journey home, where they exchanged them for other types of food and even a pig. This exemplifies the fundamental idea of barter in economics. Potatoes were exchanged for other types of food; no money was involved.