Musings from Redwing Marsh
With snow predicted for Sunday night and Monday, I'm reminded of an intriguing new history title. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin is about a storm that struck the Upper Midwest in January 1888 (great link to author interview). Oddly enough, the blizzard occurred just two months prior to a calamitous blizzard that hit New York City and New England.
What appeals to me most about the book is that the author, a writer of history who also specializes in weather phenomenon, conducted extensive research into the lives and experiences of the children and the families who were most affected.
By now you know I'm a fan of blizzard books and stories. After a lifetime of indulging this predilection, my favorite is still Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. I have read and reread this gem and have never ceased to be amazed at the clarity and spare beauty of the prose. A magnificent, fascinating book.
3 Comments:
Laura Ingall Wilder's book, all of her books in fact, were my favorite books as a young girl. They formed the basis of all my interests and most of my life. I've always wanted to be snowbound in a prairie house!
I am curious if the blizzard chronicled in the book "The Children's Blizzard" is the same one Ingalls Wilder tells about in "The Long Winter". Anyone know?
That is a fascinating question. I know that the era Wilder was writing about was the 1880s. The timing seems off, though. According to my past reading on the Ingalls, by 1888 Laura was married or close to being so. The Long Winter she refers to may be a winter earlier in the 1880s. But I'm not sure. I want to find out, and if I find something, I'll post it in a current entry on the blog.
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