The Children’s Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin evokes the notorious 1888 blizzard that swept across the Great Plains taking the lives of 235 children who died in the snow, some only steps from safety. Benjamin, known for her historical novels including The Aviator’s Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue, based this novel on oral histories told by the blizzard’s survivors.
The book focuses on two sisters: Raina, a new, young, inexperienced teacher living far from home, and her sister Gerda, a young teacher in a school a three-day ride’s distance as they each attempt to help their pupils survive the coming blizzard. The morning of the blizzard was unseasonably warm and the children and their teachers went to school in lightweight coats not knowing what was to come. The children’s fate was in the hands of teenaged girls who’d recently been sitting in classrooms themselves. The novel puts the reader into Raina and Gerda’s minds as they wrestle with their choices. Benjamin makes the reader feel how quickly they had to decide what to do and how few resources they had to help them.
The novel’s expert pacing places the reader on the prairie as the weather unexpectedly and rapidly changes. Benjamin helps the reader feel the anxiety of the young sisters as they try to ascertain what to do and how much time they have. The book also focuses on the children as they tried to make their way home. It shows, sometimes in excruciating detail, what being lost in a blizzard entails. As the blizzard grows stronger and the children plow on, Benjamin makes the reader feel the chill, fear, and bravery the teachers and children experience.
The novel provides a compelling portrait of families eking out a living as unprepared homesteaders lured west by the optimistic words they read in newspapers. The book is packed with unique characters including Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman, who penned many of the words that made people move to the prairie and was now writing of the children that miraculously survived. The story of one of those children whose life changes because of Woodson’s words is particularly compelling but it would be a spoiler to say more about that character here. The book also offers a brief picture of the abhorrent treatment of the Native Americans and a few African Americans on the prairie.
Summing it Up: Read this if you love historical fiction and want to learn about the blizzard of January, 1888. Read it to learn of the mistakes made by forecasters and families and of the importance of the media in transforming history and public opinion even in 1888. Benjamin’s extensive research and use of the survivors’ oral histories make this a riveting and accurate tale.
Rating: 4 Stars
Category: Fiction, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Pigeon Pie, Super Nutrition, Book Club
Publication Date: January 12, 2021
Author Website: https://melaniebenjamin.com/
Reading Group Guide: https://melaniebenjamin.com/book-clubs-childrens-blizzard.php
What Others are saying:
“Compelling. . . In this piercingly detailed drama, riveting in its action and psychology, Benjamin reveals the grim aspects of homesteading, from brutal deprivations to violent racism toward Native Americans and African Americans, while orchestrating, with grace and resonance, transformative moral awakenings and sustaining love. — Booklist starred review
Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-18228-0
The Children’s Blizzard is that rarest of novels, managing to be as riveting in its story as it is delicate and empathetic with its characters. Melanie Benjamin has written an unforgettable tale. These characters, with all their heart and foolishness and culpability, bring to life a piece of middle-American history long neglected. The result is a reading experience unlike any I’ve had in ages. Bravo, Ms. Benjamin, one of the great writers of historical fiction working today.
— Peter Geye, author of Northernmost
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