While Cimarron Girl, by Mike Blanc, is geared toward young children, I think it would be a good addition to a middle school class that is studying the Dust Bowl. It is a short book, with illustrations, giving a good overview of the event that impacted so many American lives.

An important and little known story made accessible to children.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

An eye opening story of love, family, tragedy and resilience. A true treasure for everyone to read. I enjoyed the writing and pictures as well.

What was it like to live through the Dust Bowl? I can only think of one other children's book about it, and that one was an Easy Reader. I was happy to find Cimarron Girl a few weeks ago, and read it to my children as part of our afternoon read-aloud time.
Abby Brubaker was only seven years old in 1932 when drought struck Oklahoma. Gradually, life got harder and harder. Then, it got even worse—the dust storms struck. The soil was blowing away. And then it got worse yet when a dust blizzard struck and the tractor and fences were covered and a boy died. How could anyone survive in these conditions?
In 1936, the Brubaker family gave up. They sold all they could and packed the rest into the jalopy—and took off for California! Would they be allowed into that state, though? And would things really be better there? At the end of the story, a couple of pages give a timeline of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, to help give a framework to the story. The entire book is illustrated with sepia drawings that bring the story to life.
This was a very good look at the difficult time faced by people in Oklahoma during the 1930s. It really made that time come to life. I'm glad I found it and was able to share it with my children! This is one I would love to have on the shelf in a hard copy.

This will be posted to www.ignitelit.com sometime in November 2021.

What in interesting and enlightening read. I was transported from my home during a cold, Australian autumn and into the life of a small family from Oklahoma during the Dirty Thirties. I found the story engaging and beautiful, but also a little scary and sad at times. The picture style was well suited to the storyline and I feel richer in my knowledge for reading this journey. It really makes you think when you read about poverty and the hardships that people have gone through in the past. Well written and interesting. I couldn’t read it without hearing an accent in my head which was a good thing.

An interesting short book about the dust bowl years in America and it’s effects. I loved the illustrations and colour palette. My thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher and author for origins a digital copy to review.

The book is supposed to be geared for young children, however in my opinion it should be for young teens. The illustrations depicted are for young people, but the overall book content is written for the older children I would say 14 and up.
The book is about a young girl, Abigail and her families struggle during the Dust Bowl Years that occurred in Oklahoma and nearby states. The lack of rain and the excruciating heat took a toll on these farmers and they lost everything. Many migrated as did Abigail and her family to California thinking they would start over in the land of opportunity. The State of California was no more welcoming as a snake slithering into a hole!
The tragedies and what these families endured, but the children suffered just as much and the book is written in the eyes of a child.

I had a hard time reading this book and following some of the thoughts. I couldn’t see a child being so accommodating on everything, but there could be perfect children out there.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this. This is the kind of book I would have picked to do a book repot on in elementary school. I loved the pictures and I loved the history that went with it. I also like that there was a timeline at the end of the summary to give more information on what the dust bowl was like

If you’re looking for a short book on what the Dust Bowl was, this book is it. The illustrationsBand front cover are appealing. My thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for the opportunity to review the book.

I would like to thank Netgally and the author Mike Blanc for allowing me to read this tittle.
This was a quick read and easy to get through. This was set back in the Dustbowl time so this book really gives you a fast run through of one family's situation.
I enjoyed this book but felt it could have given a bit more detail or information on situations and places traveled through. It really just seems to skip fast and all the sudden it's done. I thought I had missed something so I had to go through again to make sure because it just seemed to skip through so fast.
So it is a good book for a short blurb on dustbowl life don't expect anything more in depth. I would just have liked a littlw more meat to it.
The photoa were a nice touch and made it easier to associate with the characters.
Overall its a nice quick read

Cimarron Girl by Mike Blanc

A children's book about a little girl named Abigail, who lives in Cimarron county, Oklahoma. It tells of the happy experiences she has on the family farm and how everything is put into danger by the Dust Bowl which is just beginning.

Other families are stricken by illnesses from the constant dust and her father is unable to get crops to grow because there is no water.

Her parents decide to sell the farm and their belongings and move to California. Apparently, everyone else has the same idea.

It is a good book, it has nice artwork and would appeal especially to young girls who love horses. It gives a good history lesson about the Dust Bowl and tells the reader how it happened and what has been done since then, to prevent it from ever happening again.

I received a complimentary copy from @netgalley #netgalley of #cimarrongirl and was under no obligation to post a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a quick read for kids that gives a good overview of the Dust Bowl. Even as an adult, I learned a thing or two. The sepia photos were a great addition. If I were a child reading this, it would make me want to read more about the Dust Bowl.

Cimarron Girl by Mike Blanc is a book that can be used in an English or Social Studies curriculum to provide students an idea of life during the Dust Bowl through easily accessible text and images. Cimarron girl's illustrations are beautifully crafted.

This book shares the stories from Abigail's childhood growing up on her family's farm in Oklahoma. Her personal thoughts are intertwined with actual events for each year of the Dust Bowl. Learn about the challenges and dreams of the farmers. It focuses on the infamous drought, dust storms, and the Depression, which affected millions of farmers and their families.

The story is short, but it definitely keeps your interest. The illustrations are thought-provoking. Definitely introduces the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, without the horrid details described in John Steinbeck's novels.

A fictional recollection of young Abigail's experiences on the family's Oklahoma prairie farm, located in Cimarron, the heart of the Dust Bowl. Abby's first-person account chronicles key episodes each year as the depth of the drought unfolds. As she grows, personal perspectives are woven from actual events. Readers experience the challenges, sacrifices, and dreams of farmers, whose story of loss was echoed by the millions. The Brubakers struggle to hold on to their family farm, face harsh realities, and hope for a new start in California. A journey across the Southwest over legendary Route 66 carries adventure, a chance meeting, and peels back several layers of the Great Migration.

Thank you NetGalley, Mike Blanc and Vanita Books for the book Cimarron Girl-
The Dust Bowl Years of Abigail Brubaker. This is my personal review .
I found this book to be just the right amount of information for a younger person to get an idea of what it was like during the Dust Bowl years. It was particularly good to read about a young girl and her family and how they traveled to escape to life they had.
The photos in the photo were fantastic to see. This fictional telling is a good way to tell the story thru Abby’s eyes.

**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

It's a nice story, and well told. Great summary of what a lot of midwesterners experienced in the Great Depression through the Dust Bowl years. Would be a great intro for young readers who don't know much about the topic.

Nice illustrations, well drawn, and the sepia tones really suit the Dust Bowl era.

I enjoyed the story about Abigail's life in the Dust Bowl years of Oklahoma. It's written more in a memoir style, as though she's looking back on her childhood from adulthood. This would be a great introduction to kids of what living in the Dust Bowl was like and would be a quick addition to a middle grade American history course. I loved the sepia-toned illustrations because they fit so well with the mood of the dust years.

It would also be of interest to adults interested in Oklahoma history or in Dust Bowl slice-of-life stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.

Cimarron Girl is about a child living in Oklahoma during the horrific drought called the Dust Bowl in the late 1920's and early 1930's and the subsequent move to California. The illustrations really help to tell the story. This story is good for kids ages 7-10.
Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion.

Young Abby Brubaker lives in Cimarron, Oklahoma, a farming community on the economic edge in the 1930s. Her parents toil beyond endurance, but eventually it’s for naught: The Dust Bowl has make farming in Oklahoma untenable. Thus the Brubakers join a veritable caravan of westbound Okies, seeking the promise of Golden California.

But, as any reader of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath or viewer of John Ford’s film version thereof knows, California is a mixed blessing. Cimarron Girl is an excellent introduction to young readers of another immigrant “invasion” of desperate people who just want a chance to survive — since prospering is more than they could possibly dare to dream. A very fine lesson in this time when luckless immigrants are once again being demonized.