First published 2025
The dust storms have been getting worse, and now an eleven-year-old boy watches the biggest black blizzard he's ever seen rolling across the plains toward his home. It's April 14, 1935, and this storm will later be called Black Sunday. The boy knows his family and friends are in deadly danger. The massive wall of dust stretches hundreds of miles wide and blocks out the sun completely. People are already dying from these storms, and thousands of farms lie buried under dirt. His family faces an impossible choice: stay and risk death, or join the millions of refugees fleeing to California where they'll meet hatred and rejection. As the storm bears down, the boy must make split-second decisions that could save or doom everyone he loves. The Dust Bowl has already become America's worst environmental disaster, turning the southern plains into a wasteland. But this storm is different. This one will test whether courage and quick thinking can overcome nature's fury.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, family-drama, survival
Setting: California, Plains
Period: 1935
144 pages · Paperback · Scholastic Inc.