FREEZING TO DEATH IS NOT AN OPTION WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEPENDING ON YOU TO SAVE THEIR LIVES… On January 12, 1888, the people of the Dakota territory were enjoying an unusually warm day, the first break from the snow they’d had in weeks. Children walked to school and homesteaders did chores completely unaware that a dangerous storm was barreling toward them. That morning, new immigrants Carl and Carrie arrived at their one-room school house. Carrie was eager to practice English while Carl secretly plotted to return to Norway and leave America and its hardships far behind. He’d been attacked by a wolf, bullied by a classmate, and over-worked by his father who’d insisted Carl help carve the family’s new farm out of the tough prairie sod. But, soon, 14-year-old Carl would face something far worse - the deadliest blizzard in U.S. history. Although the characters in this story are fictional, the blizzard that swept across the Midwestern United States on January 12, 1888, was very real. The sudden snowstorm claimed many lives, including children on their way to and from school. Because of the tragic loss, the storm became known as the Schoolchildren’s Blizzard. Readers can learn more about the real weather event in the special 20-page bonus material found at the back of the book. The nonfiction section includes stories from real survivors plus facts about the Schoolchildren’s Blizzard, hypothermia, frostbite, and life on the Great Plains during the late 1800s. Praise for Blizzard on the Plains: Kauffman-Peters has obviously put a ton of effort into getting the details right: everything from Norwegian culture to the construction of sod houses on the Great Plains is detailed and believable. I enjoyed Blizzard on the Plains and look forward to Kauffman-Peters’ next work. - Mike Mullin, author of ASHFALL series
