Bibliographic Information:
Phelan, M. (2009). The storm in the barn. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press.
Readability Level: 2.3
Audience Level: Grades 5-7
Suggested Delivery: independent read
Summary: "It is 1937 in Kansas, during the Dust Bowl, and 11-year-old Jack can barely remember a world with plentiful water and crops. Unable to help his father with a harvest that isn't there, and bullied by the other boys his age, he feels like a useless baby. Stories offer a refuge, and there are multiple stories in this work. Jack's mother tells about the time when the land was a fertile paradise. Jack's invalid sister, Dorothy, is reading The Wizard of Oz, gaining inspiration from the adventures of another Kansan of the same name. Jack's friend comforts him with folktales about a brave man named Jack who masters nature, battling the King of the West Wind, the King of Blizzards, and the King of the Northeast Winds. In the end, Phelan turns the Dust Bowl into another one of Ernie's Jack tales when the real Jack encounters the Storm King in an abandoned barn and finds out that he has been holding back the rain. The boy must then gather the strength to determine his own narrative, as well as his parched town's future. Children can read this as a work of historical fiction, a piece of folklore, a scary story, a graphic novel, or all four. Written with simple, direct language, it's an almost wordless book: the illustrations' shadowy grays and blurry lines eloquently depict the haze of the dust. A complex but accessible and fascinating book." –Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Phelan, M. (2009). The storm in the barn. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press.
Readability Level: 2.3
Audience Level: Grades 5-7
Suggested Delivery: independent read
Summary: "It is 1937 in Kansas, during the Dust Bowl, and 11-year-old Jack can barely remember a world with plentiful water and crops. Unable to help his father with a harvest that isn't there, and bullied by the other boys his age, he feels like a useless baby. Stories offer a refuge, and there are multiple stories in this work. Jack's mother tells about the time when the land was a fertile paradise. Jack's invalid sister, Dorothy, is reading The Wizard of Oz, gaining inspiration from the adventures of another Kansan of the same name. Jack's friend comforts him with folktales about a brave man named Jack who masters nature, battling the King of the West Wind, the King of Blizzards, and the King of the Northeast Winds. In the end, Phelan turns the Dust Bowl into another one of Ernie's Jack tales when the real Jack encounters the Storm King in an abandoned barn and finds out that he has been holding back the rain. The boy must then gather the strength to determine his own narrative, as well as his parched town's future. Children can read this as a work of historical fiction, a piece of folklore, a scary story, a graphic novel, or all four. Written with simple, direct language, it's an almost wordless book: the illustrations' shadowy grays and blurry lines eloquently depict the haze of the dust. A complex but accessible and fascinating book." –Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Curriculum Connections:
Taken from Candlewick Press Teachers' Guide
Taken from Candlewick Press Teachers' Guide
- The Storm in the Barn unfolds like a nearly silent movie, with many powerful images and very limited dialogue. Challenge your students to become screenwriters. Choose a wordless or almost wordless scene and ask your class to compose original dialogue for it.
- "You got older, but the farm didn't. The dust stopped everything - except you getting older," Dorothy tells her brother, Jack. "When the rain went away, it took away your chance to grow up" (p. 115). What does she mean? Do you agree? How can a person get older without growing up?
- Investigate the science of the Dust Bowl. What were the its meteorological causes? How did the farming practices of the time worsen its effects? What are its ecological lessons for today? Break your class into small groups to study these topics, and have them orally present their findings to the class using Prezi.