This diary about living in the Texas’ Dust Bowl was a wonderful read. What I find fascinating about it, is that when I was about halfway through the book, I discovered that it was written by a fifteen-year-old girl. I was impressed by this! I hadn’t detected anything in the writing style that seemed unusual. The book seemed just as accomplished as if an adult wrote it. Katelan Janke was in the 6th grade when she entered Scholastic’s Dear America writing contest. It was only a 5 page entry that eased her into winning the contest. Two years later, after much research in her hometown of Dalhart, Texas, her full-length book was published into the Dear America series. I found Katelan’s story pretty astonishing.
Click Here to Read a short bio of the author, Katelan Janke.
You'll want to know more about this book than just the author though. A little info about the storyline... A fictional girl named Grace Edwards kept this diary, called "Survival in the Storm". Her story is about how life was in 1935 during the Dust Bowl in Texas. It drove a lot of people West, to California. Many gave up on Texas during the long drought, but Grace’s family stayed strong, and wouldn’t budge from their home. Would that choice turn out right in the end?
Gee whiz, I read this book a few years ago and loved it, thought it was awfully sad. I loved the Dear America series, and I had no idea a 15-year-old girl had written one of my favorite books in the series! Wow.
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