Children of the Storm: The True Story of the Pleasant Hill School Bus Tragedy Book

As Carl Miller started picking up the 20 children on his school bus route the morning of March 26, 1931 the weather was a balmy 60 degrees in southeastern Colorado. Black billowing clouds had begun to form in the distance and by the time Carl parked the bus in front of the one-room Pleasant Hill School they were in the midst of a freak blizzard that plunged the temperature to -20 and visibility to zero. The two teachers convinced Carl that he should take the children to a nearby home rather than try to ride out the storm in the schoolhouse as they were low on coal and had no food or water. Against his better judgment Carl agreed but soon he and his busload of children were hopelessly lost in the raging storm. Unable to see, Carl drove the bus into a ditch and the old bus' engine died. The children would spend 33 hours trapped in the 11 foot x 5 foot bus as the winds blew at 70 miles per hour and snow drifted into the vehicle through cracked windows. Carl kept the children jumping, exercising and even hitting and yelling at one another to keep them from falling asleep. He ultimately made the decision to leave the children and try to find help. Carl and 5 children would die in this tragedy.
Although this was a heartbreaking story it was very well written and researched. It is also the story of how an opportunistic newspaper editor turned this tragedy into increased subscriptions for his paper and his need to make an "American Hero" out of one of these traumatized children. The book ends with interviews and biographies of the surviving bus passengers.