When The Rain Is King

Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Grades 5-8

I like learning about history through children's and young adult books--it's easier for me to learn about certain aspects of historical events that way. So, I just finished reading Matt Phelan’s graphic novel, The Storm in the Barn, which takes place in a farming town during the Great Depression. The colors of the illustrations set the reader in the hazy atmosphere of the Dust Bowl—brown, yellow, orange, gray and black. The story focuses on Jack, who hasn’t found his place to help his father on the farm since the dust took over and there are no crops.

Jack is having a rough time overall—his older sister has dust pneumonia and he is picked on by the other boys in town. Jack wants to be helpful to his father, but seems to fumble what he does and then his father just wants him to go watch his little sister. One day while exploring his neighbor’s barn, Jack discovers an almost folklore-like creature, which he finds intimidating and scary—he starts to question his sanity, especially since others believe he has dust dementia.

Later in the novel, Jack decides to confront the mysterious figure in the barn after he witnesses a jackrabbit drive—the mass killing of jackrabbits because they were eating the only green left on the land--by the local men (not a graphic scene in itself, but the point is made—half the men are shaken after they realized what they just did). Jack soon realizes that this creature in the barn is the rain and when he confronts the Storm King he finds out that the rain is holding off till people are so desperate that they will worship him like a king.

In a folklore-like action, Jack steals the Storms King’s bag, which it turns out contains thunder and lightning and when ripped open sends the Storm King back to the sky and releases the rain.

The Storm in the Barn would work well paired with the nonfiction title, The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster by Martin W. Sandler. This book contains very powerful images from the Dust Bowl and the text is not overwhelming because the author wanted the photos to really tell the story. I also feel compelled to mention Karen Hesse’s Out Of the Dust as another great fictional pairing to help teach about the Dust Bowl.

Hesse, K. (1999). Out of the dust. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Phelan, M. (2009). The Storm in the barn. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Sandler, M. W. (2009). The Dust Bowl through the lens: how photography revealed and helped remedy a national disaster. New York, NY: Walker & Co.

Sensitive Much?

Grades 6-9

Who would’ve guessed that being sensitive enough to feel a pea under 20 mattresses means you lose the contest? In Violet Eyes by Debbie Viguie, that’s exactly what happens to one unfortunate princess vying for Prince Richard’s attention. The final project for my myth and folklore in children’s literature class involved reading and critiquing about 15 different versions of “The Princess and the Pea.” I didn’t have enough time to read the novel for the project, but I had become so enamored with the tale that I wanted to read this version. I’m SO glad I did!

The protagonist in the story is Violet—named after her violet eyes. She is a level headed and hard-working 17-year-old farmer’s daughter in the kingdom of Cambria. One night, an accident brings Prince Richard to Violet’s family farm, where he must be nursed back to health. Well, within this time period, both Prince Richard and Violet fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, Prince Richard was just on a quest (given by his parents) to find a princess to be his wife (the thought alone makes him sick). Since Violet is not a princess, does this mean they are not meant to be?

Once healthy again, Prince Richard travels back to the castle to watch the proceedings for the contest that will determine the most sensitive princess and his wife. Violet soon ends up at the castle competing for the prince’s hand in marriage—ok, I’m inserting a super short back story here: Cambria’s original royal family had been murdered, but the baby princess’s body had never been found…Violet is supposedly that baby.

I had a paragraph talking about the connections that were made between this book and the original tale (feel free to ask me about them still), but then I realized that a more important aspect of the book would be to talk about Violet's character. She is very down to earth and likable--her insecurities and strengths are revealed throughout the novel--and make her a relatable character for teen girls. Some of her insecurities stem from her not only feeling like an outsider, but an impostor (princess) at the castle--hmmm...makes me think high school. At the same time, the reader knows she possesses such positive qualities--and at one point another princess gets up and speaks out admiringly on behalf of Violet.

The contests appear to be ridiculous on the surface, but the reader (at least I did) soon becomes suspicious that there is more to these “sensitivity tests” than meets the eye—and with Violet’s friend, Princess Genevieve forming similar suspicions, the reader is supported in her/his inferring. The final contest is between Violet and Celeste (the princess from the royal family that killed Violet’s) and it involves 20 mattresses and you guessed it, one pea.

This retelling is a fun adventure and sweet romance between two very likable characters.

Viguie, D. (2010). Violet eyes. New York, NY: Simon Pulse.

More Of What’s New In Nonfiction

Part III of Presentation

I’m finally getting around to writing about the last part for the Presentation blog series. These last few titles I would like to introduce range from grade levels K-6 and cover expository and narrative nonfiction.

Arggh! Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. This new book, Pirates by Joanne Mattern (grades 4-6), is a great blended text that is in a graphic novel format. I love that the cover bears a female pirate—what a great discussion starter. The book is formatted so the speech bubbles have different shapes and shading to help children tell the difference between the history and the fictional story presented. I’ve included this book in several of my presentations because I think it represents a growing trend in nonfiction graphic literature.

When I think mummies, right away, I think Ancient Egypt (ok, I confess, I think The Mummy movies too). If you think your child will probably make the same connections, than introduce him/her to this book. It talks about mummies found throughout the world—even a Buddhist priest who was a self-made mummy! Unraveling The History Of Mummies Around The World by Sylvia Branzei is a good early chapter book for grades 1-3, especially to get children into reading nonfiction. This book may not have photographs, but the illustrations are just cool enough for a younger audience to make up for that.

If Nic Bishop can photograph an animal, you can be sure it’s an incredible shot. He’s already brought us frogs, spiders, butterflies and moths—now he brings us into the world of a type of animal where the ones I (I was going to use the pronoun “we,” but I didn’t want to make assumptions) really only know are the kangaroo and koala—the marsupial. I like how Nic Bishop Marsupials (grades 1-4) not only covers the basics—from an animal’s habitat, eating habits, and family—but he includes unique facts. For example, a koalas pouch is reversed, so when the baby peeks out they are upside down—you want to know why? Read the book to find out!

And to round this week off, I want to include a book from a series called Raptors. The one I talked about was entitled Owls by Julie Lundgren (grades 1-3). The books are very nice—photographs, text features that include caption boxes, bolded vocabulary, glossary, and simple paragraphs that won’t overwhelm younger readers. My mom plans on using the one about eagles with her first graders--she finds the idea of the eagle’s nest very helpful for circle time (that is her school’s mascot).

Bishop, N. (2009). Nic bishop marsupials. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Branzei, S. (2009). Unraveling the history of mummies around the world. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

Lundgren, J. (2010). Owls. Vero Beach, FL.: Rourke Publishing.

Mattern, J. (2010). Pirates. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Publishing.