Buffalo Storm Book

Hallie isn't afraid of anything--that is, anything but storms, which she braves along with her grandmother, huddled beneath a special quilt. When her family decides to join a wagon train and go west, leaving her grandmother--and everything Hallie has ever known--behind, Hallie knows she will have to be braver than she's ever been before. Then one day on the trail she witnesses the wildest, most glorious storm imaginable. How can she be afraid of anything after that?
Lyrical text from an exceptional writer is paired with gorgeous, jewel-like paintings in this evocative story of westward expansion.

Publishers Weekly

Applegate (Animorphs series; Home of the Brave, reviewed Aug. 13) journeys into the picture book arena with this richly descriptive verse narrative about a girl on the Oregon Trail. Afraid only of thunderstorms, Hallie embraces the trip's challenges with pluck, inspired by a close bond with a grandmother who stays behind ("I am old and this is home,/ but I'll be with you just the same"). In language loaded with metaphor and simile (a creek is "swollen with rain and looking for trouble"; a herd of buffalo stampedes "like a black ocean surging"), Hallie relates suspenseful events and her vacillations between fear and bravery. Colloquialisms enhance the naturalness of the protagonist's voice, for example, "I'm not afraid, I told a skittering lizard./ I couldn't say the truth of it,/ not with the clouds so low and fierce." A quilt her grandmother wrapped her in during thunderstorms and bestows as a going-away gift makes several appearances (as do other unifying elements, like storms and buffalo), tying up the story a little too conveniently. Ormerod's (May I Pet Your Dog?) textured watercolors and pastels employ billowy swaths of color to suggest the vastness of the setting. Often, Hallie or the wagon train appears as just a small spot against a dramatic natural backdrop. Vivid imagery makes this lyrical tale an accessible, fresh addition to the children's pioneer genre as it tackles themes of change, courage and home. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

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