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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Blizzard: PB #13 for 14:14 Review

Title: Blizzard
Author / Illustrator: John Rocco
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Year: 2014
Word Count:
 666

________________________
Summary
One winter day it started to snow,
and it did not 
stop.
At first it was fun, 
But four days later, 
the snowplows still hadn’t come, 
cabin fever was setting in, 
and rations were running low. 
Someone had to take action. 
Will one intrepid boy be able to triumph over a fearsome BLIZZARD? 

Story Element: Conflict

On Monday, February 6, 1978, the snow started to fall. 
The wind whipped up, and school closed early. "Yay!"
By the time my sister and I got home, the snow was already over our boots.


The snow continued to fall through the night,
and I thought it would never stop.
The next morning the snowdrifts were so high, 
we couldn't open our front door.
So we went out the window instead.

Everyone except the boy sank in the frozen powder. The third day, Dad shoveled the driveway. 
But by the four day, no plows. That's a conflict!


Inside, things got tense as our food started to run out. 
I knew we couldn't survive much longer on cocoa made with water.

On day five, I realized it was up to me to take action. I was the only one who had memorized the survival guide.

On Saturday, the boy tied tennis rackets under his shoes, sharpened the blades on his sled and wrote a grocery list. 

The boy stopped at his neighbors to ask what they needed as he weaved his way to the store. Then he raced the groceries back on his sled to his neighbors. 


Grateful smiles and cheers gave me the energy I needed to make it back home.

In 1978, my family was hit by this storm system in New Jersey. I remember tunneling out our front door and building igloos. We trudged through the unplowed roads to trade food with neighbors. 

(Post #13 for the 14:14 Picture Book Blog Review Challenge created by Christie Wild of Write Wild. http://christiewrightwild.blogspot.com)

12 comments:

  1. I just saw this book today in a flyer. Thanks for sharing. Sounds so fun. I love how the boy takes it into his own hands.

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  2. It's a true story, based on John Rocco's experience during the Blizzard of '78.

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  3. Wow, what an interesting story and book! We had just moved from Cleveland the year before to Texas because of the weather. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. There's also a cool center, double-flap spread with a map of the boy's journey.

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  5. What a nice story of sharing and independence!

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  6. I got this book from the library the same week as the blizzard that hit Boston/New England this year. I felt a little responsible ... !

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  7. I'm not sure about the weather where you are, but this seemed like a perfectly appropriate choice for today! Although my snow day consisted of sledding and building snow people, sometimes I like to pretend that my own conflict is much bigger and I have to save the day, just like this book. :)

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  8. Sounds like a fun snow day! I shoveled 4 inches off our driveway this morning. Enough snow for my dog to dig in.

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  9. I've read this before and loved the problem solving MC. Thanks for sharing this...and very appropriate as we had 4 inches of snow begin to disappear today. A lot for SE Arkansas... :)

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