A review by thereadinghobbit
All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky by Joe R. Lansdale

5.0

I finished this within a day. A part of that can be credited to the shortness of the book (about 220 pages and a large font) but it's also just an incredibly fastpaced read. You will not get bored reading this. The story is set in the 1930s and tells about three kids (I'm still not sure about their age, honestly) who lose their parents to the dust storms in Oklahoma, and they decide to leave and head for Texas. During their trip they encounter gangsters, grasshoppers, train jumpers and kidnappers. It's a tough trip, but these are tough kids who keep their heads. I love these three kids, I love how well they're written, I love how resourceful and smart and strong they are, I especially love Jane with her big mouth and equally big dreams. Just like all Lansdale's stories, it's gritty, it's true, it's real and while this is technically a children's book, it definitely shows the darker parts of life and human nature. Nothing is romanticized, nothing is pretty, nothing is idealized, it's all just trudging on through the dust, dealing with whatever you might find, and hopefully finding something good for yourself.