SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

August 21, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

August 21, 2009 by Betsy Bird   2 comments

The Storm in the Barn
By Matt Phelan
Candlewick Press
$24.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3618-0
Ages 10 and up
ARC from a fellow librarian.
On shelves September 8th.

Do Americans like to romanticize the past too much? Sometimes it feels that way. We keep idly wondering about those “simpler times” when the world felt slower and more measured. We conveniently forget about the hardships, the blood, the pain, or we never remember them at all. Matt Phelan, however, will never be accused of romanticizing the Dust Bowl. An illustrator by trade, Phelan has come out with his very first graphic novel for kids. A measured, handsome volume, The Storm in the Barn is part mystery, part melodrama. Set against sweeping dust-ridden plains with their hard, lined men, Phelan conjures up another time and place. And somehow, in the midst of the pain and the heartbreak, he manages to keep the book completely appropriate for younger readers. It’s a fable. It’s a comic. It’s entirely original and completely wonderful.

Jack has no use. No use at all. When the dust came and the rain stopped, suddenly his family got caught in a kind of limbo. His father won’t ever trust Jack to help him with the chores, his sister Dorothy is sick, and the town bullies are constantly beating him up. Now on top of all that, Jack’s seeing things. Strange things. Lights in barns where there should be no light. A face in made entirely out of water. What’s hiding near his home and does it have any connection to the troubles they now all face? With delicacy and style, Phelan draws readers into another time and place and brings to life a story that is like no other you can find anywhere else.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s strange, but the book I kept thinking about as I read this was David Small’s new graphic autobiography Stitches. Not that Stitchesis meant to be read by kids. But both books are good at highlighting iconic images. In this particular case, Phelan has a keen sense of the setting and objects of the time period. As a result, he can bring into sharp focus an image with an almost cinematic sense. People with goggles and masks looming out of a doorway. A snake nailed to a post, its mouth curled up in a ghastly grin. A single red panel frame, the only bright color in the book, suggesting a newly bludgeoned rabbit. There is violence against rabbits, by the way. Bunny lovers would do well to be forewarned.

Phelan also uses sound and silence to his advantage. Much of the book has a kind of silent movie feel, though the art is distinctly noir. While there’s plenty of action, this book is subdued and allows for moments of quiet and reflection. Jack isn’t a loud, boisterous he-man hero. He’s quiet and thoughtful. Cares for his sisters, dislikes bullies, and is willing to hear a good tale. He’s kind of a pint-sized Gary Cooper too, when at last he sees men pushed to near insanity and realizes that he is the one who will have to make it end. He is the one to stand up to a force beyond reckoning. I loved how Phelan drew together the Jack tales of battling outlandish villains with this story and managed to have our very realistic Jack in his very realistic setting fight something supernatural and not jar the reader’s sense of the book’s internal reality.

For a second there, I got worried. Any author that takes a historical moment and then turns it into a parable or an allegory is playing with fire. The notion that the Dust Bowl happened because the rain became sentient is hard to swallow when you’ve read books like Albert Marrin’s Years of Dust which goes through the causes and the troubles of the time period with a fine tooth comb. Fortunately, Phelan has included an Author’s Note that gives weight and depth to his interpretation. As he says, “I began to imagine what the experience of living in the Dust Bowl must have been like through the eyes of a kid. Without the complicated explanation of the history of over-planting, soil erosion, and other factors, a young boy or girl would only know a world that could suddenly vanish in a moving mountain of dark dust. The rain had gone away. But where?” We have books like the Marrin title for our facts. Working in the Jack tales and The Wizard of Oz tales, Phelan has created an all new Kansas fantasy. One that any kid, anywhere, could enjoy.

It’s funny that in this day and age of kids having so little to be responsible for, the story of Jack desperately needing to be useful resonates. I think today’s youngsters will really understand how it is to be a child on a farm somewhere and not to be of any use at all. Just blowing in the wind. Phelan hasn’t just set his story during the Dust Bowl for flavor. The very theme of the book, of needing to take matters into your own hands no matter what the danger, fits in beautifully with this setting. Matt Phelan has given us a graphic novel that tells its story with just the right number of panels and pages. This is storytelling, plain and simple. Get it while you can, folks. Get it while you can.

On shelves September 8th.

Other Blog Reviews:

  • Reading Rants!
  • Educating Alice
  • Welcome to My Tweendom
  • Shelf Elf
  • The Book Bench
  • Guys Lit Wire


Professional Reviews:

  • Publishers Weekly


Other Online Reviews:

  • Blogcritics Books


Interviews:

  • Writing and Ruminating
  • Newsarama.com
  • Shelf Elf
  • Boys Read
  • The Longstockings


Misc:

  • Get a peek inside at the panels over at Graphic Novel Reporter.
  • Download a teacher’s guide.
  • And finally, the trailer.


Filed under: Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2023

Review of the Day - Trees: Haiku from Roots to Leaves by Sally M. Walker, ill. Angela McKay

by Betsy Bird

March 2023

Review of the Day: Hands by Torrey Maldonado

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Review of the Day: Afterward, Everything Was Different by Rafael Yockteng, ill. Jairo Buitrago

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Review of the Day: Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself created by Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Review of the Day: The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri, ill. Daniel Miyares

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

The Pumphrey Bros Are on The Yarn Podcast!

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Gerald McBoing Boing by Dr. Seuss

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

It’s Jeff! | This Week’s Comics

by Lori Henderson

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Writing Quietly (…While Surrounded by Loud Things), a guest post by Helena Fox

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey Try Something New

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

2 New Books for Beginning Readers Based on Indigenous Stories

33 New Releases, Including Books by Jerry Craft and Jerry Pinkney| Starred Reviews, February 2023

10 Nonfiction and Fiction Titles to Give Young Readers Context on The Great Migration

Top 10 Music of 2022

8 Pitch-Perfect Manga for Music-Loving Teens | Mondo Manga

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rebecca Sherman says

    August 21, 2009 at 7:37 am

    Betsy, this review was based on the ARC? Well, then I cannot wait until you see the final book in a few weeks!

  2. alvina says

    August 21, 2009 at 7:49 am

    Whoa, that book trailer is great. Looking forward to reading this book!

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023