Book club discussion kit. a novel / The children's blizzard
(CD)

Title and statement of responsibility from book title page.

Includes discussion questions.

Watonwan County Library. A cloth bag containing 10 books, 1 large print, 1 audiobook, 1 folder.

Title supplied by cataloger.

"A novel" -- Cover.

Draws on oral histories of the Great Plains blizzard of 1888 to depict the experiences of two teachers, a servant, and a reporter who risk everything to protect the children of immigrant homesteaders.

The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a long cold spell, warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats. At the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard struck without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm. Based on actual oral histories of survivors, the novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers-- one who becomes a hero of the storm, and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. -- adapted from jacket