"Okie Orange Daydream"
14"x18"
acrylic on canvas board

John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" appears on the ALA's list of most challenged books of the 21st century.  It was also burned on a number of occassions Ð including Kern County CA which was the endpoint of the Joad family's migration in the novel.  Critics accused Steinbeck of being a socialist and of championing communist beliefs.

Dana Ellyn's painting, "Okie Orange Daydream" shows a little girl in the barren yellow landscape in the dust bowl region of the U.S.  She optimistically waters her orange plant while dreaming of oranges so abundant that they rain down from the sky.