Washoe County Library System

Draws on oral histories of the Great Plains blizzard of 1888 to depict the experiences of two teachers, a servant, and a reporter who risk everything to protect the children of immigrant homesteaders.

When John Hale's parents moved from Chicago to a farm in the Dakota Territory in the late 1880s, he was not happy (too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and that is just the beginning); but after a year, and now eleven, he has settled in and made some friends at school--but when a sunny day in January 1888 turns abruptly into a deadly blizzard he will need all his strength and courage to survive what became known to history as The Children's Blizzard....

Thirteen-year-old Maddy Rollag finds it hard to adjust to life on her aunt and uncle's farm in Dakota Territory. Her schoolmates think she's spoiled, and Aunt Marta makes it clear that Maddy is not fit for farm life. Maddy desperately misses her father and life back home in St. Paul, Minnesota. But on January 12, 1888, everything changes. A blizzard traps Maddy and her classmates inside their schoolhouse. If they stay in the schoolhouse, they'll freeze,...