The Storm in the Barn

Phelan, M. (2009). The Storm in the Barn. Boston, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

The Storm in the Barn is a graphic novel providing another story of the dust bowl in the mid-west in the early 20th century.  Eleven-year-old Jack is trying to find a way to fit in, to be helpful, a place to belong but he is the outcast among friends and even deemed useless by his father.  His sister Dorothy has dust pneumonia and people in town say Jack has a dementia caused by the dust.  Jack sees mud in a barn amidst miles of dust and confronts his suspicions.  He comes face to face with Rain and in a battle for life, power, and rain, Jack faces his fears in the old barn. (Grades 2 and up).