The Children’s Blizzard, Melanie Benjamin (new release)

The Children’s Blizzard is a new release by Melanie Benjamin.

Based on actual events, The Children’s Blizzard is a historical fiction novel about one of the most deadly blizzards in American history. The storm killed at least 235 people, many of whom were schoolchildren trying to walk home.

During the 1800s, masses of European immigrants uprooted their families and their lives to move to Nebraska and Dakota Territory. These relocation decisions were based on widely publicized news reports falsely promising a better, more prosperous life on acres upon acres of rich, fruitful farmland. Native Americans were cruelly pushed out so immigrants could move in. A new railroad was built, and immigrants arrived in droves having no idea that everything they were promised was a lie. The “wonderful” farmland turned out to be a desert with harsh blizzards, prairie fires, aggressive grasshoppers and tornados. Life was nothing but a struggle and poverty for the new settlers, and many of those who were able to move back home did so.

Raina Olsen was a sixteen year old immigrant schoolteacher at a one room schoolhouse in Nebraska. She was boarding with a local family, the Pedersens. Anna Pedersen was an unhappy and hateful woman, and life under her roof had been difficult to say the least. Also living in the home was little Anette, one of Raina’s students. Anette was rejected by her family, and her own mother sold her to the Pedersens for two chickens and a pig. Mrs. Pedersen used Anette as a servant and mistreated the child terribly. Anette was abused, overworked and lived in constant fear. Her only advocate was her teacher, Raina. Her only friends were Tor and his little brother Fredrik, two of her classmates. Anette’s only escape from her miserable existence was the little bit of time she could spend in school, away from Anna.

Gerda Olsen was Raina’s older sister. Also a schoolteacher, she worked at another schoolhouse in Dakota Territory. Gerda was the strong and responsible one, and Raina looked up to her. The sisters enjoyed a close bond and were part of a farming family.

Then there was Gavin Woodson, a news reporter struggling with remorse and regret over the propaganda he helped to create. Propaganda that lead his readers into a life of hardships and turmoil. He wanted desperately to make things right, but he didn’t know how to do so.

January 12, 1888 started out as a beautiful, unseasonably warm day. After a brutal cold spell, temperatures spiked and excited school children walked to school wearing only light jackets after being cooped up for weeks because of the cold. As the day progressed, however, the weather changed drastically. Suddenly and without warning, temperatures sharply plummeted right before the children were to be dismissed from school (It has been estimated that temperatures fell nearly 100 degrees in a twenty-four hour period). A brutal, extremely rapid blizzard ensued. Temperatures in the schoolhouses were dropping fast, but the wild conditions outside were escalating by the second. Panic set in, children were sobbing. Raina and Gerda, young teachers and each responsible for their own roomful of pupils, had to make quick decisions – decisions that would shape the rest of their lives. Decisions that changed families and communities forever. Decisions that would create a better life for one sister, but completely ruin the other.

Wow, I mean – wow! This was a book I blew through faster than the storm itself! I could not put it down, not for a second. My heart was in every page. As a parent, I cannot imagine being in that situation and having no way to find my child. No phones, no way of communicating. Just wait and wait. Teachers who were still children themselves forced to make monumental decisions with no resources, no electricity, no real meteorology, no way of predicting what would happen as a result of their choices and so many factors out of their control. The storm lasted seventeen hours, and many of the children never made it home. Several of them remained missing until the spring thaw – when snow melted months later and tiny bodies were uncovered. Many of those who did make it lost feet, hands, limbs, and ears.

Themes of death, grief, suffering, poverty, anger, and the impacting ripple effect of a single decision were well presented and felt deeply throughout the book. The overall plot pacing was appropriate. Melanie Benjamin provided poignant sensory details throughout the novel. I could almost feel the freezing wind permeating through the pages, and a child’s painful terror as tears froze on their face, and lifted flesh with them as they were wiped away. My heart sank as little Anette snuck out of the schoolhouse and ran into the blizzard because she was so afraid of what Anna would do to her if she got home late. The entire novel penetrated every emotion – especially heartache. Heartache over what those families must have gone through as they anxiously waited for children who never came home. Heartache over two teenaged sisters forced to become adults in a matter of hours. Heartache over lives taken too soon, and families destroyed as a result.

The Children’s Blizzard is multi-layered – diving deeply into the lives of a variety of different characters from vastly different worlds. I especially enjoyed seeing how some lives changed for the better after the storm, even if it was under such tragic circumstances. I fell in love with little Anette, but also appreciated how her character development and response to her changing circumstances were presented realistically, and how she remained true to herself. This novel is well written and extremely engaging from start to finish. I felt such a connection to the characters and their journeys. I completely enjoyed and highly recommend The Children’s Blizzard. I look forward to reading more from Melanie Benjamin.

“And as we are faced with challenges of a climate and planet that are continuing to change due to human carelessness, we must take action now, before more lives are lost.” Melanie Benjamin

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