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.

If your children are still too young for Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, this little book is a nice way to introduce them to the history of America's Dust Bowl years.
Abigail lives on a farm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Life is good until a long drought that begins in 1931 and doesn't break until 1939. The author doesn't sugarcoat the reality of the hardship. People died from "dust pneumonia." Dust storms were so bad that they were called "black blizzards" because they turned day into night. People got lost in those dust storms and died, buried in dust and sand.
Abigail's family hangs on in Oklahoma as long as they can, but eventually they become part of the Great Migration of Okies heading for California.
I enjoyed this book and the sepia-toned illustrations that give it a nice old-timey feel. At the back of the book there's a chronology from 1930 to 1939, explaining what was happening in the country during this time in a broader context. It's a good place to start for a deeper exploration of the subject if a child is interested. I even learned a bit myself. For example, I didn't know that by 1934 the drought covered 75 percent of the country.

Cimarron Girl is a beautiful book detailing a young girl’s Dust Bowl experiences. The book tells the story of Abigail Brubaker and reads as if she is reminiscing on her childhood. Some readers may not like this style but I appreciated the levity it gave to the topic. I felt this book could have easily been a novel and I would’ve enjoyed it even more. Although I loved the text, the illustrations were my favorite part of Cimarron Girl. Presented in a warm sepia tone, the drawings evoke the famous Lewis Hines photographs of the area while adding a storybook feel. This book would be great as background information for students of American History.

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

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.

Cimarron Girl
The Dust Bowl Years of Abigail Brubaker

by Mike Blanc



Vanita Books

Children's Fiction , History

Pub Date 01 Jun 2016



I am reviewing a copy of Cimmaron Girl through Vanita Books and Netgalley:



Cimarron Girl: The Dust Bowl Years of Abigail Brubaker is a fictionalized telling of a young Abby’s memories of the Dust Bowl, on their family farm located in Cimmaron Oklahoma.


The first person account tells of key events throughout Abby’s early life in the form until the time when conditions got so bad, their family like so many others were forced to leave their homes and look for a better life outside of Oklahoma, it was The Great Depression and things were bad everywhere but in Oklahoma things were far worse, due to the horrific conditions brought on by the Dust Bowl.


Cimaron Girl is a story of loss and challenges, but it is more a story of hope and overcoming despite great obstacles.


I give Cimaron Girl five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

The artwork in this short book is evocative and endearing. Not easy to do with material that features something as jarring as climate-as-the-villian. I enjoyed the story of Abigail and her family needing to leave their home and find a new life, with new jobs and new opportunities. Both my family and my in-law family made the same trek from different parts of the country, right along with all the other Joad-like families (Grapes of Wrath), landing in the beautiful valleys and hot places in California.

The book is aimed at a young audience, and does a great job of a clear overview of a tough time in American history brought on by climate change, on a level that young school kids can understand. Reasons for migrations of whole populations are not always as easily described as this one, and so this feels like an appropriate place to start for that baby geographer, anthropologist, historian, economist, lawyer, sociologist or other specialist of Why Humans Do What They Do.

The story of Abigail reminded me of my terrific grandmothers and grandfathers who braved storms, nature and hardship, and upon whose good choices changed the course of my own path in ways I do not even fully realize.

Thanks to Mike Blanc, Vanita and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

"My thoughts"

This book was exactly what I didn't want it to be, a disappointment.


Things I enjoyed

The Book Cimarron Girl by Mike Blanc was a disappointment, However, I did enjoy two things. first being the illustrations. The Illustrations did really well at representing the sorrow, and harshness of the time. Secondly, I enjoyed the ending of the book that had real pictures of the time. As well as some facts. I believe these resources really help children realize that these things really happened.


Things I didn't like

The use of the first-person point of view in it affected the writing, and the characters. I really would have enjoyed more showing than telling. Such as when Abby tells us that all the girls have to wear flour sack dresses. I feel It would have been great to have a scene where the children talked about the dresses. - pg 10


Another thing is that Abby's first-person perspective felt kind of off. The narrative felt very jolting, one-minute Abby would say something such as it was her birthday. Then Abby would start talking about how they would be moving, and her mom was happy about a school. This was just too hard to follow for me personally and be entertained at the same time. - Pg37


In closing


I was interested in this book originally becuse I have family who moved from Oklahoma to California, during this time period. I wanted so badly to connect with the characters. Sadly this didn't happen. On another note, the publisher had a note that this was the authors first authored book. so if he is still writing. Maybe I would give him another try, but this just isn't the book I was hoping for.


the review will be published on Oct 21st 6 am PST on my blog (www.emilyslittlebooknook.com)