I got this handsome hardcover from Better World Books after reading this Unshelved.com review. It's a marvelous, poignant, sometimes terrifying story of life on the plains during the Dust Bowl, with a young boy coping with the dust storms, his parents' distress, his sister's illness - and the glimpses he keeps having of a mysterious figure lurking in an abandoned barn. Is it real, or is he suffering from "dust dementia", the madness that overtakes people who've been subjected to wind and dust and want for too long...

The artwork is muted, conveying the dust-covered setting very well, and I quickly became attached to the characters, from the boy who wants to help out but is too clumsy for his desperate, impatient father to the ever-cheerful sister. (There's a group of boys who bully our hero, but even they turned out to have a softer side, glimpsed briefly in the aftermath of a wild-rabbit roundup and slaughter - an event that was also, sadly, true to life.)

When young Jack finally confronts the mysterious being in the barn, events take a turn for the better, but we're left wondering just what did happen here - and are reminded of the extreme hardships of life at that time and place. Excellent story!

I donated this book to the ongoing book sale on the library's ground floor. (They sell donated books for a dollar or less, with the proceeds going to benefit library programs.) Hope the buyer enjoys the book!

*** Released for the 2014 Four Elements challenge, for "storm". ***

*** Released for the 2014 Oh the Places We Can Go challenge, for "Storm Lake". ***