Customer Reviews

Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, Texas 1935 (Dear America Series)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author may be 15 and she may not have needed to leave her hometown to write this book-but it is awesome! It takes place during the Dust Bowl in a small Texas town called Dalhart in 1935. Grace Edwards is a young teenager who's father grows crops, her mother is a housewife, and has a younger sister, Ruth. The girls attend a small school, where most of the families are all affected by the Dust Bowl-they are poor, have a hard life, and are very nice and mannered people.Except for a rich family's children-Sadie and her sisters. They are so mean and real that you just want to hit them and make them look like idiots. Anyway, Grace is used to the hardwork but when the Dust Bowl threatens to take her friends away-both to another state and to death, Grace and Ruth have a hard time surving. Grace does volunteer at a hospital for dust pneumonia victims, but it is so hard since most of the victims die, breaking Grace's heart.The ending is especially surprising and touching-you will never expect it so I won't say it here.Read the books to find out! This book is well researched and written, uses good vocabulary, is very educational, and is a true addition to the Dear America series. Don't just get this book to complete your collection, like I had done, read this book and enjoy it!

At first I wasn't sure how good this new Dear America book would be, since Katelan Janke, the author, is just fifteen years old. But I was pleasantly surprised, since she has written a book just as good as many of the Dear America books written by adult authors. Katelan Janke has written a fictional diary of a young girl living in Katelan's own hometown during the Great Depression. Twelve-year-old Grace Edwards has lived on a farm near Dalhart, Texas for her whole life. But it's 1935, and the region is suffering from a terrible drought as the entire country is devastated by the effects of the Great Depression. Grace describes her daily life in a diary as her family faces hardship and sorrow. She describes their determination to hold on and to never give up hope, even as many of their friends and neighbors abandon their homes in the hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. If you have doubts about reading this book because of the author's age, you shouldn't. Katelan Janke is a good writer and has written a good book for the Dear America series.

Survival in the Storm is one of the best books that I've ever read! The author speaks with such feeling that you feel you are Grace, you feel as though the same things that happened to her are happening to you! The good and the bad! You learn so much about the time! You learn that there WERE a few rain showers during the dust bowl. They were not powerful enough to soak into the ground though! I deeply recommend this book to anyone and everyone!!!

Winner of the Dear America contest Katelan Janke writes a wonderful and interesting story about Grace Edwards during the Dust Bowls of 1935. Grace writes about her the storms, the constant cleaning and of what its doing to people in the town. A really wonderful story.

The book Survival In The Storm is about a 12 year old girl named Grace Edwards.Grace learns to battle the hard times like The Great Depression ,the horrible sand and very poorness.Grace writes in her journal almost every day,she writes about every thing that happens in her day.Grace has afriend named helen,helen and Grace go to there favorite plac all the time when Helen's over.This is a great book!

Survival in the Storm was the best Dear America book I have ever read. I like it so much that I've read it three times! It tells about twelve-year-old Grace Edwards, who lives on a Texas farm during the Dust Bowl. It's sad when Grace's friend Helen moves to California, and when Ruth's (Grace's seven-year-old sister) best friend dies of dust pneumonia. But there are joyful parts too, like when Sadie, a girl who was always mean to Grace and Helen, becomes friends with them when she moves to California (she wrote Grace a letter and apologized, and she was in the same migrant camp as Helen.) I recommend this book to kids and adults.

In the story Survival in the Storm a young girl named Gracie Edwards is growing up during the Great Depression. She lives on a farm with her mother, father, and younger sister. Her best friends name is Helen. Every morning Gracie and her sister get up and walk to school. Sometimes the dust is so bad there dad has to drive them to school. Gracie's dad has planted wheat but it is so dry that during a duster (a dust storm)it keeps coming up. Many people are moving to California because they cant get anything to grow. The richest people in town the Mcall's are lowning out money and land to people in town. They're children who Gracie and her younger sister go to school with are very snobby. Helen's family all of a sudden have to move to California. Gracie told her friend to write as soon as possible.A few weeks later Gracie's mom start working at the local hospital. Gracie goes with her to help the people. In a few days Gracie goes into a room and sees her little sisters best friend lying in a bed with a case of dust pnominia. A few days later she dies and her little sister is very sad. Gracie finally gets a letter from her friend Helen. Sadie Mcall the mean girl at school and her family all of a sudden are missing. She found out the bank went bankrupcy and they lost all of there money. They are staying at the same camp as Helen. A new girl shows up at school and all the boys keep taking her doll. The next day her house catches on fire and her doll burns. Gracie's little sister makes a new doll for her self that isn't that pretty and gives her nice one to the little girl before she moves to California. A doctor that travels from hospilal to hospital stops at the one Helen's mom and her work at for 2 weeks and Gracie becomes really good friends with the doctors son. On the day he leaves he gives her a box of ststionairy and his adress.It really is a great book about the hard times people went through. It will make you thankful for everything you have!

This book is the best! I read it in less than a day.I just could'nt put it down.This has lots of action and keeps you going. It also helps me understand the hardships people had during the Great Depression especially in the texas Panhandle during the Dust Bowl.I would recommend everyone to read this book!

I got this book for a Christmas present. I love it and have all ready read it two times!! Now I want to learn even more about the dust bowl. Some parts of this book almost made me cry it was so real.

Survival in the storm, by Katelan Janke, was a good book. It takes place in Dalhart,Texas in 1935 during the Dust Bowl. It shows how hard it is for all the families during that time.
I could not put this book down because I liked it. I would reccommend it to 6th and 8th graders because you learn a lot about history. This book goes targets this age group.
This book was almost as good as the Harry Potter books. I say it needs a little more adventure in it. If you want to find out more you need to read the book.