Bibliograph

The children's blizzard, a novel, Melanie Benjamin

Type

Label

The children's blizzard, a novel, Melanie Benjamin

Language

eng

Illustrations

maps

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

The children's blizzard

Oclc number

1356740550

Responsibility statement

Melanie Benjamin

Sub title

a novel

Summary

The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a punishing cold spell. It was warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats, leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At just the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard blew in without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm? Based on actual oral histories of survivors, this gripping novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers, one who becomes a hero of the storm and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath

Classification