Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Things can hardly get worse for the Clark family as they watch the dust clouds of 1937 slowly claim their Kansas farm. Eleven-year-old Jack has a particularly hard row to hoe; he's bullied by the local toughs and pretty much tossed aside as useless by his trouble-hardened father. Jack is mighty observant, though, and when he investigates some odd occurrences in an abandoned barn, he discovers and eventually confronts a mysterious figure, who proves to be the rain itself, and releases him onto the parched plains. Much of the action in this graphic novel is captured in stretches of wordless frames and short bursts of dialogue. The spare, sketchy lines and soft washes of the mixed-media illustrations underscore the haziness of the dust filled air; it's a toss-up whether the rolling black dust clouds or the shadowy, half-human form of the Storm is more of the threat. Phelan sensitively conveys the growing despair of the community as they watch their land languish, taking their bitterness and frustration out on whomever or whatever is at hand. With its appealing format and touch of fantasy, this tale of coming of age in hard times will entice readers who may otherwise be indifferent to historical fiction.