Prairie Skies: Cabin in the Snow

While Papa is off fighting on the Missouri border, Charlie is left in charge of the family in their remote cabin in Bleeding Kansas while a fierce prairie blizzard rages in this second book in the 1850s-set Prairie Skies chapter book series.

When Charlie and Papa arrive in Lawrence for supplies, they find the bustling Kansas town threatened by border ruffians from pro-slave Missouri. Papa decides to remain behind with other free-soil settlers to defend the town, so Charlie must drive the wagon back to the family’s isolated claim by himself.

At home, a different sort of storm is brewing; gray skies, bitter cold, and vicious winds warn that a prairie blizzard is coming, all while Charlie’s new sibling is coming too—Momma is in labor. Charlie is always getting into trouble for daydreaming and forgetting his chores. Now he has to show he’s grown-up enough to help Momma, his sisters, and his newborn baby brother survive in their tiny cabin in the snow.

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of numerous award-winning children's books, including Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, winner of the International Literacy Association Award; Girl Wonder, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award; and Apples to Oregon, a Junior Library Guild Selection. She received the 2003 Washington State Book Award for Under the Quilt of Night. She lives in Oregon. Visit her online at DeborahHopkinson.com.

Patrick Faricy is a graduate of ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, and has been creating images professionally for over thirty years. He has received awards from the Society of Illustrators New York and Los Angeles, Communication Arts, and the Junior Library Guild, as well as an Image Award nomination from the NAACP.