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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I read this for my middle-grade book club at the library, and the kids loved it! It was fun to read a fictional story about a historical event and explain how the story impacted children to kids around the same age. We're definitely going to be revisiting this series later in the year.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
John Hale lives with his family in the Dakota Territory. They have left the East and moved West for a better life. Life on the plains is hard and they don't have much room in their one-room sod house. The winter of 1888 is brutal with a lot of snow that keep the family locked in their house. One nice, sunny day the kids are in school when a killer blizzard hits. They try to evacuate the students to the local hotel in town, but John's sled doesn't make it. He and several other boys are forced to shelter in a haystack to survive.
These I Survived books are quick books and full of action. I can understand why kids love them. Personally I would love to have a bit more story to go along with the action. I do appreciate all the research Lauren Tarshis does for these books however.
These I Survived books are quick books and full of action. I can understand why kids love them. Personally I would love to have a bit more story to go along with the action. I do appreciate all the research Lauren Tarshis does for these books however.
Like all of Tarshis’ I Survived series, a great introduction to history for young readers.
I had never heard of this event before reading this book. It, like all the other I Survived books, is pretty harrowing. I would never have made it as a homesteader. Blizzards, tornadoes, grasshoppers, huge rattlesnakes? No thanks, cities and suburbs forever plz.
The book does an excellent job of discussing all of the difficulties of living on the prairie in the 1880s. This story deals with the Children's Blizzard, a surprise blizzard that hit the Dakota territory. The author did a great job of describing the daily life details of pioneers.
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I've read several books in this series and have always enjoyed them, but this one was a pretty big disappointment. So much of the book takes place before and after the blizzard that it doesn't feel like a book about this horrible storm at all. Also, if you take the Q & A section away at the end of the book, I don't think the reader would understand just what the blizzard was and why it was such a terrible thing. The reader should be able to get that from the book itself, and it just doesn't happen with this one.