Days of Sand by Aimee de Jongh

In 1937, twenty-two-year-old John Clark is rushing down the streets of Washington, D.C. to make an interview. He runs into a newsboy, scattering his newspapers on the sidewalk. But John can't stop to help - he needs to keep his appointment.

In the interview, John tells the man that he lives in New York City, working for a local newspaper as a photographer. The interviewer recognizes his name, which is the same as his father who was a well-known photographer. The man isn't sure John is the right person for the job when he sees that most of his portfolio is filled with photographs of the Black community. They are looking for a photographer to take photos in the south.

John pleads with him to give him a chance, that he can cover any subject. The interviewer then admits that his work is outstanding and he has the job. He learns that this government agency wants to send him to photograph farmers in "No man's land.", a phrase being used to describe the panhandle of Oklahoma. The interviewer explains that after the Wall Street crash in October, 1929, the country also crashed and farmers were hit especially hard.

Mary, the assistant in the office, tells John he will be in the area for a month and will send his film back by post to be developed in their lab. John worries that his photographs will not be good enough but Mary tells him that one way to get impactful photographs is to "help the truth a little" by staging the subjects. She also explains what the Dust Bowl is. Pulling out a dusty map, Mary explains that it covers parts of Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and the panhandle of Oklahoma. The name comes from the dust storms that now blow through this area, blocking out the sun. Because of the drought and the storms, people are leaving to find a better life. Because of the drought and storms, people are leaving to find a better life. They want his photographs to show what life in the "Dust Bowl" is like. John is given a script - a list of subjects to photograph.

So in the middle of the Great Depression, John returns home, stunned that he has landed a job. As he is packing for the trip, his mother gives him a photograph of his father telling him that his father did love him but had trouble showing it. And so early the next morning, John sets off for Oklahoma in what turns out to be a life-changing experience.

Discussion

Days of Sand is a historical graphic novel about life during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, in 1937. This richly illustrated novel effectively portrays life during the Dust Bowl and how challenging it was for the people who lived in the southern plains during this economic and environmental catastrophe.

The Dust Bowl, as briefly explained in the novel, encompassed areas in Kansas, Colorado, the Texas panhandle, the Oklahoma panhandle, and parts of New Mexico. The problems began in the 1920's when land not suited for agriculture was planted and farmers began to abandon soil conservation practices. After the stock market crash in 1929, an economic depression began. This was followed in the 1930's by a series of droughts, each one worsened by the fact that the land did not recover fully from the previous one. In total there were four droughts: 1930-31, 1934, 1936 and the last in 1939-40. 

There were a number of factors that came together to create the dust bowl. The land had been quickly settled a century earlier without much understanding of the ecology and environment of the southern plains. The methods of farming used by these initial settlers were better suited to the Eastern United States with its regular rainfall. In the southern plains, there were periods of plentiful rain but also short droughts from which the region recovered. In the novel, Betty Harrison tells John Clark how when her grandparents settled in Oklahoma in 1910, it was a paradise of "green grass, blue skies, clean air..."

With the economic downturn of the Great Depression, farmers began to cultivate land that was not suited for farming and to abandon what few conservation practices they were already using. It was a matter of simple economics: they needed to farm as much land as possible to make enough money to live. Mary tells John Clark, that "they brought this on themselves" is only partly true, as outside pressures such as economics also played an important role.

Days of Sand portrays the personal journey of fictional photographer John Clark as he travels into the heart of the catastrophe, ostensibly to photograph conditions so the government can understand what's happening. His journey begins as a photography job but becomes personal when he experiences the realities of life in the dust bowl. As he changes his focus from trying to get photographs from the script he's been given to actually getting to know the people, he begins to see the human side of the tragedy. The loss of a young mother has such a profound effect on John, that he comes to understand that no photograph can capture the pain, the loss and the heartbreak her family experiences. It is his belief that a photograph cannot capture the complexities of an event like the Dust Bowl, that photographs can be deceiving and can fail to capture the emotions, "...colors, tastes, scents and sounds."

In a letter to the man who hired him, John writes, "If I had to describe my time in the Dust Bowl...I would talk about the stinging pain I felt when the flurries of dust hit my skin. I would talk about how dust could make you fell you're suffocating with every breath. I would talk about the slow decay of the human spirit after endless days of sand. None of that can be captured in a photograph." He resigns believing he became a photographer in an attempt to please his abusive father. He hopes that others will have the courage to photograph their lives.

Interestingly, in the back matter, De Jongh has included many interesting black and white photographs, and a brief write-up on the Farm Security Administration, the Photography Program, the impact of this program, and some of the iconic photographs that captured life during the Dust Bowl. Some of these photographs were inspirational in other ways - for example author John Steinbeck used the FSA archive in his research for his book, The Grapes of Wrath.

Days of Sand is a beautiful graphic novel, with wonderful illustrations that complement this poignant story about life in the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Highly recommended.

Book Details:

Days of Sand by Aimee de Jongh
London, UK:  Self MadeHero    2022
277 pp.

Harvey Comes Home by Colleen Nelson

Harvey is an energetic West Highland terrier who belongs to Maggie. He's a West Highland Terrier, "...a ratter with a white coat, extra shiny and clean..." It's early November and Harvey is out for a walk with his beloved Maggie, a freckled girl with beautiful red hair. "Harvey never knows that the day will bring with Maggie. Some days she is at home with him and other days she leaves and comes back with a bag layered with so many smells."  

Harvey just loves all the different smells on his walks. The smells are distracting but he could "spend all day drinking them in at one lamppost."  Harvey also loves and hates squirrels.

When Harvey and Maggie return home, Harvey notices that today is different. There is a lot of activity in the house. There are three big items by the front door whose smells attract Harvey.

A new person named Olivia arrives and Harvey is told she will be caring for him. He senses that Maggie wants him to like this girl.With the arrival of a second car, a taxi, Maggie and her twin sisters and parents leave, and Harvey finds himself alone with Olivia.

The next morning Harvey is put outside in the backyard. Immediately he goes after a squirrel. But when the squirrel races out of the yard, and Harvey finds the gate unlatched, the chase is on! Soon Harvey finds himself at the end of Maggie's street. Unable to catch the squirrel, other scents lead him in a nearby forest. 

Harvey's travels take him to Norman Dog Park where he is attacked by a larger dog. A couple, Miles and Lucy walking their own dog at the park, help Harvey. Lucy, who works at a vet clinic decides to take him to the clinic so she can scan the chip in his ear to find his owner. However, in the clinic parking lot, when Harvey catches the sweet and spicy scent of the taxicab that took his Maggie away, he jumps out of the car and races off in pursuit of the cab. For another day, Harvey wanders on the streets. He's now tired, thirsty and very dirty. He decides to lay down behind a planter at the front door of the Brayside Retirement Villa.

Eleven-year-old Austin is volunteering at Brayside Retirement Villa where his grandpa Phillip works. Austin made a deal with his grandpa after he was caught with firecrackers in the boys bathroom. It was supposed to be a stunt to make him popular but all it got him, was trouble. So every weekday Austin works at Brayside until six o'clock, cleaning, dusting and helping. 

Austin doesn't like the chatty old people but his grandpa asks Austin to treat them like he would his own grandpa. He's a bit afraid of Mr. Pickering, a very elderly man who's been in the home for fifteen years. Austin tries to engage with Mr. Pickering whom he is convinced is grumpy because he is lonely.

When Austin shows up for his shift at Brayside, he spots Harvey behind the planter. Quickly the Brayside staff help Austin with the exhausted and hungry terrier. Louise, Artie, Mary Rose and even Austin's grandpa get involved in getting Harvey a blanket, food and water. Austin manages to convince his grandpa to let him take Harvey home to his mother, who is not pleased to see the dog.

The next evening Austin is supposed to walk Harvey to the animal shelter to get his chip scanned but he doesn't go in. Instead, he returns to Brayside and lies to Grandpa and the staff at Brayside, telling them the shelter is full and that they will call if they locate Harvey's owner. Meanwhile, Maggie and her family return home from vacation. Maggie is so distraught when she learns that Harvey is missing, that she's unable to return to school. Eventually she and her mother post lost-dog posters in their neighborhood.

As Austin struggles over whether or not to keep Harvey, the little white terrier serves as the impetus to bring Austin and Mr. Pickering together, allowing the elderly man to share the stories of growing up in difficult times during the 1930's Dust Bowl. It is these times with Austin that bring Mr. Pickering healing, the chance to forgive himself and in the end peace.

Discussion

Harvey Comes Home is a delightful novel for younger readers. The story is told from three perspectives, that of Harvey, of Austin the young boy who finds him and also Maggie to whom Harvey belongs. While Austin's narrative is in first person, Harvey and Maggie's stories are told in third person. 

The novel also employs a story within a story. The overarching story is that of Harvey and his misadventures that lead him to Brayside Retirement Villa and Austin, and of Maggie's attempt to find Harvey. This part of the novel was inspired by the loss of Nelson's own beloved Westie, Maggie as well as her learning of therapy dogs visiting nursing homes.

Nested within this story is a second, poignant story about the life of the elderly Mr. Pickering, the grumpy resident of Brayside. Austin is determined to be nice to Mr. Pickering who seems so grumpy.  Austin is drawn in by the picture of a three-legged dog in Mr. Pickering's door collage that prompts him to talk to the elderly man. This flicker of interest from a young person, along with the presence of Harvey, opens Mr. Pickering to telling about his life as a young boy, during the 1930's when widespread drought destroyed crops and made life very hard.The story centers around Walter Pickering and a girl, Bertie who was abandoned, abused and very poor, and their friendship.

Their story is one of perseverance during hard times, of friendship, forgiveness and healing. When tragedy befell his dog, General, Walter blamed Bertie, and soon after left the family farm, leaving behind Bertie. When he didn't return, Bertie also left. Walter never reached out to her and only learned about her life through her obituary. This part of his life weighs heavily on him because he feels he failed his best friend.

Mr. Pickering's story spans the worst of the Dust Bowl era and is situated on the Canadian prairies in Saskatchewan. His story was inspired by Nelson's uncle, Wayne Pickering who recalled a story from his own family about a dog named General who had three legs and once chased horse thieves away from Nelson's grandpa's farm. 

The novel also chronicles the change in Austin as his work at Brayside sees him develop more understanding of, and empathy for the elderly. Austin's work at Brayside and his interactions with Mr. Pickering alter how he views elderly people. When he first began working at Brayside, Austin couldn't decide " if Mr. Pickering was lonely because he was mean, or mean because he was lonely." He wonders why the old man is so grumpy. As he spends time with Mr. Pickering and learns more about him, he comes to view him differently and is no longer scared of him. "I thought about the farm and Bertie and General. When he was talking about them, I forgot he was old Mr. Pickering. I started seeing him as the boy in the pictures in his photo collage." When he remembers that Mr. Pickering is ninety-six, he imagines how many people he's lost and this makes him sad. "I couldn't help wondering if I'd been wrong about Mr. Pickering. Maybe he was grumpy because he was lonely, and not the other way around." He learns to be patient with the elderly man and lets him tell his story at his own pace. After listening to Mr. Pickering tell his story about his dog, General, Austin had changed. "I shook my head as I left his room. I wished I'd given Mr. Pickering a chance a long time ago." In the end, it is Austin who comforts Mr. Pickering as his memories cause him so much pain and he tells the elderly man that Bertie would have forgiven him.

Austin also experiences conflict in another area of his life and isn't quite as successful in doing the right thing. When Austin finds Harvey he just wants to keep the dog. He begins to rationalize why he should keep Harvey; if he takes him to the shelter, he'll be put in a cage, his owner couldn't have taken care of Harvey very well if he lost him and there's no way he can return Harvey in those circumstances. But then Austin reconsiders. "But then I had another thought. What if Harvey was my dog and I lost him? I'd want whoever found him to help get him back to me. Saying I'd gone to the shelter and then keeping him was like stealing -and I'd be lying to Grandpa and Mom." Unfortunately, Austin doesn't act on this empathetic thought and do the right thing. He lies to Grandpa, the staff at Brayside and his mom. He keeps Harvey and each day brings him to Brayside. 

This act is the driving force for the story as it sets up the relationship that forms between Harvey, Austin and Mr. Pickering. Harvey seems quite content to be with Mr. Pickering and his presence starts Mr. Pickering reminiscing about his life during the Dust Bowl in the 1930's.

When Austin sees a lost dog poster of Harvey at his school, he knows his days with Harvey are probably coming to an end. Instead of answering the ad, Austin rips it down, runs home, gets Harvey and takes him to Brayside where he lies to his Grandpa and the staff about school being closed. Austin wants to hear the end of Mr. Pickering's story, believing that he needs Harvey's presence to accomplish that. But really, it is not having Harvey, but having Austin to listen that is the key for Mr. Pickering. Eventually, through tragic circumstances, Maggie is reunited with Harvey.  Austin not only apologizes to Maggie but invites her to bring Harvey to Brayside some day. 

Harvey Comes Home is a delightful novel that will appeal to young readers on so many levels; the story of a lost pet will resonate with many readers, the high interest story of Walter Pickering and his friend Bertie, and the gritty details of the hardship of the Depression on Canada's prairies. Austin, Walter, Bertie and Mr. Pickering are well developed characters who are realistic and interesting, making them very relatable to readers. Add to this the beautiful book cover, and Harvey Comes Home is an excellent addition to Canadian juvenile fiction.

Book Details:

Harvey Comes Home by Colleen Nelson
Toronto: Pajama Press    2019
219 pp.