Module 13 - The Storm in the Barn

 

Phelan, M. (2009).  The storm in the barn. Somerville, Mass.:  Candlewick Press.

Summary:

This is a graphic novel about an eleven year old boy named Jack who lives with his family in Kansas during the Dust Bowl in 1937.  His family’s farm is suffering due to the four year long Dust Bowl.  Jack feels helpless to change things, his sister has ‘dust’ pneumonia, and Jack is often teased by the local bullies.  His only friend seems to be the general store owner who tells him stories.  The doctor thinks Jack might have ‘dust’ dementia.  Jack fears this is true after he begins to see a terrorizing figure in the abandoned barn.  He learns that this monster is ‘Rain’ who wants everyone in town to worship him.  Jack fights the monster, which results in rain for the community.

My Impression:

I am not a fan of graphic novels, and this book did not really change my mind.  I enjoyed the storyline up until the part about the monster, which made the story confusing for me.  However, I think fans of graphic novels would enjoy this book.  It’s a good example of historical fiction educating readers about a specific time in history.  It does contain the words ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ which I feel are used appropriately to convey the way characters are feeling.  There is also some violence as men in the town round up the rabbits and kill them with bats and clubs.  This book was a Bluebonnet nominated book in Texas for 2011-2012. 

Library Usage:

This novel could be used as a writing activity.  Students could choose a page, or one could be assigned, and write a paragraph about that page.  Peers could then read the paragraph and compare it to the page in the graphic novel.  The writer would need to include enough elaboration and details in the paragraph to convey what the page from the graphic novel showed.

Review:

Matt Phelan's debut graphic novel is part thriller, part historical fiction and part coming-of-age story. Long obsessed with the photographs of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans that chronicled the Dust Bowl, Phelan was eager to introduce a new generation to one of the most storied eras in American history. "Any kid is going to be blown away by the starkness and the amazing spectacle of dust," says Phelan. "The drama of the environment catches their imagination." The Storm in the Barn tells the story of Jack Clark, 11, who lives in Kansas in 1937, in the heart of the Dust Bowl. As Jack and others around him try to make sense of the war that the environment is waging against them, Phelan wields his mighty watercolor brush to evoke life in a haunting palate of browns that transport the reader back in time. "By limiting the palette, I had more control over the use of color as a tool in the storytelling," says Phelan. Ironically, the artist chose to work with watercolor. "With watercolor you don't know what you're going to get," he says. "You stick your brush in the water and see what happens. I had a medium that I couldn't control, just like the dust, which was going to go where it was going to go." (Ages 10 & up)

Storm in the Barn. (2009). Kirkus Reviews, 77(22), 12.