Summary: A shy eleven year-old boy named Jack Clark lives in Kansas in the year 1937. His family's farm is faced with disaster during the Dust Bowl that has allowed the drought to creep into their lives. As the drought threatens their farm, Jack is faced with meeting a character that is lurking in the barn. Jack soon learns that the character is the "Rain." Jack, who is used to not being of much use around the farm will be the hero of the story. It will take determination and muster suspense for Jack to save the day. Readers can learn a lot about history as they remain in suspense about Jack's next moves throughout the story.
Citation:
Phelan, M. (2009). The storm in the barn. New York, NY: Candlewick.
My Impression: This graphic novel is very engaging. It provides creative and entertaining pictures with few words. The pictures do an excellent job telling the story. Readers will enjoy the air of suspense that follows throughout the story. Phelan provides notes about the history of the Dust Bowl to give readers more insight into the happenings within the story. The history from Phelan also allows readers to have empathy for what the farmers at the time faced.
Professional Reviews:
Booklist starred
"Grades 5-8. Ten-year-old Jack and his family suffer the hardships of Dust Bowl America, while a secret in the barn may alter their fortunes forever in this superb graphic-novel evocation of childhood’s yearning and triumphs. Phelan (illustrator of the Higher Power of Lucky, 2006) turns every panel of this little masterpiece into a spare and melancholy window into another era, capturing an unmistakable sense of time and place—as found in James Sturm’s Satchel Paige (2007)—even as he takes full, masterful advantage of the medium’s strengths by using fantasy elements to enrich the deep, genuine emotional content, much as Shaun Tan did in The Arrival (2008). All the more impressive is how he balances fleet pacing (thanks to low word density) with a thoughtful, contemplative homage to storytelling and storytellers, which, in the tradition of the greatest tall tales, presents an empowering message that all a child needs to change the world is courage and ingenuity. Great for a wide range of readers, this will work particularly well as a gentle introduction for those new to graphic novels or as an elegant argument on the format’s behalf against dubious naysayers. A single warning: there is a restrained depiction of a rabbit slaughter, which could upset more sensitive readers."
Booklist. (2009, August 1). [Review of the book The storm in the barn, by M.
Phelan]. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com
Horn Book
"Illustrator Phelan's graphic novel debut brings 1937 Kansas, wracked by drought and hardship, to life, adding a supernatural twist that fits well with the extremities of the Dust Bowl. Populated with Phelan's trademark loose-lined, sparely sketched, emotive characters, this is the story of eleven-year-old Jack, who hasn't seen rain since he was seven. Exploring an abandoned barn, Jack encounters a mysterious, threatening figure with a face of rain and a bag that flashes lightning. The minimalist approach to text complements the measured, masterful panel pacing; whole spreads are wordless, forcing the reader to slow down and follow the visual details of the action. Phelan's use of color is simply stunning; his palette of sepias, dusty browns, and charcoal grays perfectly evokes the desolate landscapes of the Dust Bowl and makes the occasional pop of color -- memories of green fields, stylized depictions of folktales, the angry blood-red of a "rabbit drive" -- that much more striking. The emotional landscape is equally well developed: an older sister who suffers from "dust pneumonia" and reads Ozma of Oz aloud, between coughing fits, to her younger siblings; a father who too easily dismisses his son, who never had an opportunity to prove himself on the farm, as useless. The potent subtext informs both Jack's climactic showdown with the rain figure and the book's tender, triumphant resolution."
Horn Book Magazine. (2010, November 10). [Review of the book The storm
in the barn, by M. Phelan]. Retrieved from http://www.
hbook.com
Uses within the Library:
1. Historical Stories: Have students research historical events during a timeline provided by the classroom Social Studies teacher. Once they choose their favorite event, have them write their own graphic novel about the chosen historical event. Allow a "Reading Day" for children to pass around their graphic novels for others to read.
2. Ten Fact Fun: Have students write down ten facts that they found in the story. Read all facts anonymously and determine if the facts in the book were accurate or embellished.
Book Cover: Book cover provided courtesy of the Mansfield Public Library.
Retrieved from http://www.mansfield-tx.gov/departments/library/
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