The Children's Blizzard

The Children's Blizzard

Adult historical fiction
"When the Blizzard struck central and eastern Nebraska and
southeastern Dakota--the places that had the most casualties--it
struck at a particularly devastating time: the hour when school was
about to let out, or just had. This led to an unusually high
proportion of casualties being children--thus the name--the Children's
Blizzard."
Even before that deadly blizzard portrayed in Melanie
Benjamin's The Children's Blizzard life was precarious. It was 1888.
Homesteaders with no clue what they were getting into, many lured by
totally false propaganda targeted at people desperate for land, were
flooding territories that had been stolen from the indigenous people
who actually knew what they were doing. Every year was a cycle of
crises: floods, tornados, plagues of grasshoppers, prairie fires, and,
of course, blizzards. In fact we now consider the 1880s to have been
a "little ice age."
Plus don't forget that our current ways of monitoring and
spreading information about severe weather events were nonexistent.
The morning of the blizzard was an unseasonably warm one, coming
right on the heels of a lengthy severe freeze. People were using the
break to travel to stores and stock up on supplies they couldn't grow
and to to make repairs on their large properties. They were also
wearing spring clothes and airing out the winter garments they'd been
living in.
The blizzard struck without warning, turning a pleasant day
instantly into a hell on earth of frigid gale force winds driving snow
thick enough to obscure all visibility. Teachers who didn't have
phones or any other way to call for help or consult anyone in the
outside world were faced with a nightmarish decision: let their pupils
go home or have them shelter in place. Either choice could easily
lead to their deaths. The teachers faced with a crisis few of us could
handle were teens themselves, some a mere year older than some of
their pupils.
The Children's Blizzard, based on documented survivors' stories,
takes readers into that real life nightmare. The focus is on the very
different decisions made by two sisters who were teachers and their
life or death consequences. But a wide range of perspectives add to
the depth and breadth of the fast-paced, suspenseful, riveting novel.
It also has an educational function. It exposes the Homestead
Act as even more vicious than most of us know. In addition to
executing and stealing land from indigenous peoples (which, in itself,
was evil), those in power lured legions of people desperate for better
lives for themselves and their children to move to the territories
using pamphlets portraying an earthly paradise based on lies, more
lies, and damn lies. In fact in the aftermath of the blizzard
newspapers were pressured to under report death tolls so potential
homesteaders wouldn't be deterred...
...more of the stuff they probably didn't teach you in high
school history.
On a purrrsonal note, I had a really good weekend. Saturday I
volunteered at Orono Community Garden. We weeded and gave veggies to
very happy people. I snagged lettuce and yellow zucchini. I'm
eagerly awaiting the tomatoes. Sunday Tobago and I attended zoom
church. When she was about to do the kids' part of the service Pastor
Mariah commented that she saw Tobago waiting patiently for the
children's story. Tobago sat up straight and purred softly. Eugene
bought a bunch of frozen veggies. That is so romantic. Fresh and
frozen are so much better for us than canned. (Jules)
Pastor Mariah knows a good cat when she sees one. (Tobago).
A great big shout out goes out to the garden crew, Pastor Mariah, and
Eugene.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway




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