The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
The Children's Blizzard is historical fiction based on a tragic natural disaster that happened on January 12, 1888 in Nebraska. That blizzard, called The Schoolhouse Blizzard in some records, was previously written about in David Laskin's non-fiction book of the same name. I read Laskin's book when it was published in 2004 and was fascinated by this natural disaster that I'd never heard of before. This is a fictionalized story of that day in 1888. The characters--Raina and Gerda, Anette, Fredrik, Tor-they are based on some of the actual students and teachers that survived the blizzard. It's January 12, 1888. A strangely warm (40 degrees!) day on the Nebraska prairies. People took advantage of the mild weather to make trips to town from their homesteads for supplies. Students walked to school without their usual heavy coats and gloves. For most, it was a pretty short walk-maybe 15 minutes from their homes to the schoolhouses. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, ...