The Storm in the Barn

Bibliography

Phelan, Matt. 2009. The storm in the barn. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763636180

Plot Summary

Eleven-year-old Jack feels useless on his family’s dying Kansas farm. It hasn’t rained in four years and he has never had a chance to prove his worth to his father. The favorite target of bullies, Jack enjoys hearing the “Jack” tales told to him by the general-store owner. When Jack sees a mysterious, menacing, presence in an abandoned barn he is afraid he may be suffering from “dust dementia”. Soon though, Jack begins to suspect what is in the barn. Desperate to save his sister from dust pneumonia, and his family from despair, Jack confronts the thing in the barn. The menacing presence is the rain, which has been building power by withholding rain until the people are desperate enough to worship him. Jack releases the storm and brings hope back to Kansas.

Critical Analysis

Inspired by photographs of the people from the Dust Bowl, Matt Phelan has captured the bleakness of the period in this historical graphic novel. Phelan also uses references to popular books and stories of the time to give insight into Jack’s life and set the stage for his epic battle with a mythic being.

The use of color throughout the book is amazing. The greys and browns of the dust is the predominant feature, with colorful pastel memories of better times, the dark indigo of the brooding storm, and the vivid blood red of the rabbit drive.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: “Children can read this as a work of historical fiction, a piece of folklore, a scary story, a graphic novel, or all four. Written with simple, direct language, it’s an almost wordless book: the illustrations’ shadowy grays and blurry lines eloquently depict the haze of the dust. A complex but accessible and fascinating book.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Author/illustrator Phelan's first graphic tale is part historical mystery, part fantasy thriller. The pencil-and-watercolor panels are cinematically framed and often wordless, advancing the plot and delineating character with careful strokes. The bleakness of the Dust Bowl comes through in both the landscape and the hopeless faces of his characters.”

Connections

The sources of Matt Phelan’s inspiration:

Worster, Donald, 1941-. Dust Bowl : the southern Plains in the 1930s. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0195174887

American Experience: Surviving the Dust Bowl. WGBH Boston Video, 2007. DVD. UPC 783421418196