The Storm in the Barn

The Storm in the Barn (2009) by Matt Phelan. 201 pages.
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3618-0

This story takes place in 1937 Kansas during the Dust Bowl. Jack Clark is 11 years old, living on a farm with his family; they have not seen rain for at least four years and the effects are taking their toll on the people. Jack's sister Dorothy is bedridden and enjoys reading Wizard of Oz books, parelleling some of the story lines. Mabel, his other sister is a curious youngster who likes to explore. The townspeople start believing in a mysterious illness, dust dementia, and suspect Jack may have it. Jack starts to see a creepy apparition in a neighbor's barn that foretales rain. Meanwhile, the townspeople are growing tired of the rabbits eating their meager amount of food and decide to eradicate them. These frames are unpleasant and disturbing.

Illustrations are pencil drawings with spudged shading; giving the reader the feeling that they can almost feel the dust. Muted tones provide for atmospherics that enhance the feeling of that time and place in history. Interesting read for 11 to 13 year olds.

-------------------------More books related to the Dust Bowl:

Years of Dust: The Story of the Dustbowl (2009) by Albert Marrin.
"Exceptional overview brings close the terrifying, bleak realities of the Dust Bowl; Marrin puts the era into both historical and environmental context". Gillian Engberg, Booklist Online



Out of the Dust (1997) by Karen Hesse.
A story about an Oklahoma family in the Dust Bowl. Told in free verse from the point of view of fourteen year old, Billie Jo Kelby.



Dust (2003) by Arthur Slade.
"Eleven-year-old Robert is the only one who can help when a mysterious stranger arrives, performing tricks and promising to bring rain, at the same time children begin to disappear from a dust bowl farm town in Saskatchewan in the 1930s. " - Book summary from http://catalog.plsinfo.org/